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Offl|f){f}li|f||?jii))iiVfe,rt^Ky 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


»-®-     to    <^a 
D.    W.    Lcyden 


I-J    ^ 


THE  COSSACKS 
THEIR  HISTORY  AND  COUNTRY 


THE    COSSACKS 

THEIR  HISTORY  AND  COUNTRY 


BY 

W.  P.  CRESSON 

LATE  CAPTAIN  A.  E.  P.,  FORMERLY  SECRETARY  Off 
THE  AMERICAN  EMBASSY  AT  PETROGRAD 

AUTHOR  OP  "Persia" 


NEW  YORK 

BRENTANO'S 

1919 


COPYRIGHTED,    IQig,    BY 
BRENTANO'S 


All  rights  reserved 


THK-PLIMPTON  -PRESS 
NORWOOD  -MASS  -t-S-A 


TO  MT  BROTHER 

EMLEN  VAUX  CRESSON 

K   REMINDER  OP  OUR  JOURNEY  ALONG   THE   TEHERAN-BAGDAD 
CARAVAN   TRAIL,    1900. 


i 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     The  Origin  of  the  "Free  People" 1 

II.     The  Zaporogian  Cossacks 21 

/^III.     Yermak    and    the    Cossack    Conquest    of 

Siberia 44 

zIV.     Bogdan  Hmelnicky:  A  Cossack  National 

Hero    65 

/'"V.     The  Struggle  for  the  Ukraine 93 

VI.     Mazeppa 104 

VII.     The  End  of  the  Free  Ukraine:  Little 

Russia 129 

viii.     pougatchev   145 

IX.     The  Hetman  Platov 170 

X.     The    Cossacks    of    To-day:    Organization 

AND  Government 196 

XI.     The  Cossacks  of  To-day  :  The  Don 209 

XII.     The  Frontiers  of  Europe 222 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Zaporogian  Cossacks Fro7itispiece 

The  old  defenders  of  the  Polish  and  Russian  fron- 
tiers against  the  Tartars  writing  a  letter  of  defiance 
to  the  Sultan. 

FACING   PACK 

A  Zaporogian  Cossack 22 

Yermak's  March  in  Siberia 44 

Statue  of  Bogdan 66 

The  Hetman  Platov '.   170 

Sketch  Map  of  the  [principal  Cossack  Territories 

of  the  Present  Day 196 

Kouban  Cossacks 220 

And  "Cossacks"  of  the  "Wild  Division." 


FOREWORD 

TO  weave  a  connected  narrative  from  the  known 
episodes  of  Cossack  history  would  be  a  diffi- 
cult and,  in  many  ways,  an  impossible  task.  Such 
a  work  would,  moreover,  involve  years  of  patient 
preparation  and  research  —  for  authentic  records 
concerning  the  subject  are  only  to  be  found  scat- 
tered as  isolated  chapters  or  paragraphs  among  the 
pages  of  Russian,  Polish  and  Turkish  history. 

Poets  and  native  bards  were,  generally  speaking, 
the  chief  historians  of  the  Cossacks  or  "Free 
People."  The  guiding  traditions  of  their  race,  like 
those  of  all  pastoral  peoples,  are  to  be  found  in 
songs,  ballads  and  f  olkstories,  rather  than  in  written 
records.  Yet  the  national  ideals  thus  orally  main- 
tained have  lost  nothing  thereby  in  strength  or 
influence.  The  Cossack  ballads  and  khorovod  of 
the  present  day,  like  those  of  earlier  times,  teach 
love  of  freedom,  loyalty  to  comrades  and  hetman, 
and  a  sturdy  devotion  to  the  privileges  which  the 
courage  of  their  forefathers  obtained  for  them  in 
the  past.  Cossack  folktales  differ  in  many  respects 
from  the  heroic  legends  and  peasant  by-lines  of  the 
North.     They  possess,  moreover,  a  characteristic 


vi  FOREWORD 

strain  —  praise  of  joyous  adventure  and  "glad 
living" —  all  their  own.  Filled  with  the  spirit  of 
the  "Free  Steppes,"  tliey  tell  of  hard  knocks  given 
and  taken  for  the  sheer  love  of  fight;  of  struggles 
desperate  and  bloody,  followed  by  Gargantuan 
feasting  and  debauch.  Doughty  feats  with  the 
wine-cup  are  honoured  almost  equally  with  deeds  of 
war.  In  all  these  romances  the  dominant  note  is 
the  praise  of  personal  liberty  and  of  a  freedom  often 
degenerating  into  license. 

AVliile  the  Cossack  did,  or  ballad-mongers, 
frankly  celebrate  the  deeds  of  their  heroes  in  a 
measure  of  exaggeration  permitted  by  patriotism 
and  poetic  license,  the  more  ambitious  and  labored 
"historical"  works  of  certain  Polish  and  Russian 
writers  only  furnish  an  account  so  manifestly  par- 
tial and  prejudiced  that  they  have  little  more  schol- 
arly authority  than  the  Cossack  folklore  tales.  A 
great  historical  romance  has  added  to  this  con- 
fusion. All  that  is  generally  known  abroad  con- 
cerning the  most  glorious  epoch  of  Cossack  history 
is  contained  in  the  heroic  pages  of  the  late  Henryk 
Sienkiewicz.  In  these  masterpieces  of  fiction  the 
part  plaj^ed  by  the  tjrrannical  oppressors  of  the 
Cossack  patriot  Bogdan  is  lauded  to  the  skies,  and 
every  act  of  his  "base-born"  followers  too  often 
treated  with  a  fine  if  unconvincingly  nobiliary  con- 
tempt. 

To  French  historical  authorities,  Salvandy,  Ram- 
baud  and  notably  I^esur   (to  whose  Ilistoire  des 


FOREWORD  vii 

Kosaques,  published  in  1814,  the  author  acknowl- 
edges himself  especially  indebted)  we  owe  a  more 
objective  treatment  of  the  Cossack's  story.  Fol- 
lowing their  lead  the  writer  will  attempt  in  his 
work  to  dispel  something  of  the  ignorance  so 
strangely  persistent  outside  of  Russia  with  respect 
to  the  origin  and  significance  of  this  military  caste 
or  people.  The  term  "Cossack,"  while  generally 
applied  to  a  characteristic  branch  of  the  old  Russian 
cavalry  service  —  more  properly  designates  a  com- 
munity of  warlike  clans  loosely  bound  together  by 
the  common  tradition  of  a  long  and  stirring  history. 
If  during  the  closing  decades  of  the  imperial  system 
the  Cossack  "nations"  became  more  or  less  identi- 
fied with  the  other  peoples  of  the  Russian  empire, 
they  were  nevertheless  permitted  through  the 
strength  of  their  free  traditions  and  the  importance 
of  their  services  to  the  state,  to  retain  the  marks  of 
an  outstanding  individuality  —  a  policy  wholly  in 
opposition  to  the  great  unifying  aim  of  Russian 
imperialism. 

It  is  the  proudest  boast  of  the  Cossacks  of  to- 
day—  as  of  their  forbears  of  the  Ukraine  —  that 
they  have  never  been  classed  as  serfs  nor  for  a  mo- 
ment lost  their  freeman's  instinct  for  the  principles 
of  liberty.  While  the  peasants  of  North  Russia 
were  bowed  in  shameful  submission  to  the  Great 
Princes  of  Moscow  and  later  to  the  "dark  forces" 
of  the  Tsar's  court  and  the  Baltic-German  official- 
dom of  the  capital  on  the  Neva,  the  history  of  the 


viii  FOREWORD 

Cossack  inhabitants  of  the  southern  steppes  was  (as 
we  shall  later  see)  a  long  epic  of  heroic  resistance  to 
^*^  the  encroachments  of  autocracy.  If  their  distrust 
of  the  infinite  docility  of  the  moujik  class  has  often 
made  them  in  the  past  the  blind  instruments  of 
reaction,  their  loyalty  to  Tsardom  has  never  im- 
plied any  abdication  of  the  privileges  guaranteed 
their  own  caste. 

While  the  organization  of  the  present  Cossack 
armies  is  the  outcome  of  a  system  which  may  gen- 
erally be  termed  "Democratic-Feudalism" —  i.  e.,  a 
popular  system  of  land  tenure  in  return  for  military 
service  to  the  old  regime  —  their  basic  traditions 
were  essentially  free  and  republican.  In  spite  of 
their  old-time  loyalty  to  the  Tsar,  the  Cossack 
troops  of  the  army  —  and  notably  those  about  the 
imperial  court  —  were  among  the  first  to  raise  the 
standard  of  revolt  during  the  constructive  changes 
of  March,  1917.  The  return  of  the  Cossacks  to  the 
side  of  popular  government  was  but  the  logical  out- 
come of  the  whole  trend  of  their  history. 

In  order  to  understand  the  significance  of  the 
present  Cossack  movement  in  Southern  Russia  and 
the  difference  separating  the  former  "Free  People" 
of  the  Russian  Empire  from  the  moujiki  or  peas- 
antry of  the  north,  some  knowledge  of  their  history 
and  origin  is  essential. 

The  following  pages  only  attempt  to  sketch 
the  outlines  of  their  subject,  yet  so  far  as  the  author 
is  aware  no  more  comprehensive  study  of  Cossack 


FOREWORD  IX 

life  and  history  has  appeared  in  English.  The 
chapter  which  traces  the  early  history  and  develop- 
ment of  the  Cossack  race  is  little  more  than  a  syn- 
opsis of  facts  forming  part  of  a  much  broader 
subject:  the  history  of  the  growth  and  expansion 
of  Modem  Russia.  Elsewhere  in  this  narrative, 
an  effort  has  been  made  to  follow,  whenever  pos- 
sible, the  colourful  style  of  the  original  Cossack 
legends  and  sources.  These  latter  are  almost  always 
biographical  and  fragmentary  yet  they  give  a  vivid 
picture  of  their  time  and  subject.  The  story  of 
Yermak's  heroic  march  through  the  twilight  of  the 
northern  forests  and  his  discovery  and  conquest  of 
Siberia ;  of  Bogdan's  fight  for  the  Cossack  hberties 
against  the  proud  nobles  of  Poland;  of  Mazeppa's 
almost  forgotten  part  in  the  epic  struggle  between 
Charles  XII  of  Sweden  and  Peter  the  Great  for  the 
Empire  of  the  North;  of  the  strange  outbreak  of 
savagery  led  by  the  "False  Tsar"  Pougatchev  — 
the  eighteenth  century  forerunner  of  the  mob- 
leaders  of  our  own  day  —  are  matters  of  interest  to 
the  general  reader. 

Recent  events  show  the  importance  of  a  better 
understanding  of  the  facts  of  Cossack  history. 

One  qualification  at  least  the  author  may  claim 
for  the  task  he  has  undertaken.  Many  miles  of 
travel  in  Cossack  country  during  two  fateful  years 
—  just  before  and  after  the  Russian  Revolution  — 
brought  him  into  familiar  and  friendly  contact  with 
the  Cossacks  of  the  present  day.    Out  of  a  desire  to 


X  FOREWORD 

acquaint  himself  more  thoroughly  with  their  story 
and  the  j)art  they  have  played  in  Russia's  develop- 
ment grew  the  notes  and  studies  from  which  the 
present  volume  has  been  written. 

W.  P.  C. 

Princeton  University, 

September,  1919. 


THE   COSSACKS 

THEIR  HISTORY  AND  COUNTRY 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  "FREE  PEOPLE'' 

THE  level  plains  and  steppes  of  South  Russia 
were  known  to  the  ancients  as  the  broad 
channel  followed  by  the  ebb  and  flow  of  every 
fresh  wave  of  conquest  or  migration  passing  be- 
tween Europe  and  Asia.  The  legions  of  Rome  and 
Byzance  found  this  territory  as  impossible  to  oc- 
cupy by  military  force  as  the  high  seas.  The  little 
known  history  of  "Scythia"  —  from  the  earliest 
times  until  the  thirteenth  century  of  the  Christian 
era  —  presents  a  confused  picture  of  barbarous 
tribes  pressing  one  upon  another,  the  stronger 
driving  the  weaker  before  them  from  the  more  fa- 
voured hunting  grounds.  Often,  voluntarily  or  by 
force,  the  victors  included  the  vanquished  in  their 
own  "superior"  civilization.  There  are  many 
reasons  why  it  is  difficult  or  impossible  to  follow 
with  any  degree  of  certainty  the  national  history 
of  these  races.  "Their  long-forgotten  quarrels, 
their  interminglings  and  separations,  above  all  the 
constant  changes  in  their  names  and  habitat  make 


2  THE  COSSACKS 

the  study  of  their  history  as  difficult  as  it  is  un- 
profitable."    (Lesur,  Histoire  des  Kosaques.) 

This  ignorance  of  the  changes  —  political  and 
economical  —  which  are  constantly  taking  place 
along  the  amorphous  racial  frontiers  of  Eastern 
Europe,  has  continued  to  our  own  times.  But  at 
recurrent  intervals  these  Slav  borderlands  sepa- 
rating the  Occident  from  the  Orient  become  the 
scene  of  political  upheavals  so  vast  in  their  con- 
sequences that  the  very  foundations  of  European 
civilization  are  shaken  in  their  turn. 

The  great  Tartar  invasion  which,  <hiring  the  thir- 
teenth centurj^  swept  out  of  Asia  and  spread  across 
the  steppes  of  Southern  Russia,  was  an  occurrence 
of  such  magnitude  that  its  echoes  travelled  to  the 
most  distant  states  of  Europe.  The  arrival  of  fugi- 
tive bands  of  Khomans,  Black  BiUgars,  and  other 
wild  steppe  tribesmen  at  the  court  of  Bela  IV, 
King  of  Hungary,  first  spread  the  fame  and  terror 
of  these  new  invaders.  From  these  refugees  and 
their  descriptions  of  the  enemy  the  sovereigns  of 
Christendom  learned  with  horror  of  the  fate  which 
in  the  short  space  of  a  few  months  had  overtaken 
the  most  powerful  strongholds  of  the  princes  of 
Bus  and  JNIuscovy.  Even  the  Poles  —  whose  more 
civilized  and  warlike  state  was  generally  considered 
the  bulwark  separating  the  "barbarians"  of  ancient 
Scythia  from  the  communities  of  Europe  —  had 
been  forced  to  make  the  best  terms  possible:  by 
paying  a  degrading  tribute  to  the  invaders. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  "FREE  PEOPLE"     3 

The  powers  of  Europe  now  beheld  upon  the 
frontiers  of  their  own  empires  an  enemy  far  more 
redoubtable  than  the  Saracen  "infidels"  against 
whom  they  had  waged  their  mystical  crusades. 
Turning  from  his  dream  of  rescuing  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  the  Emperor  Frederick  II  exercised  all 
his  eloquence  to  unite  the  Christian  princes  in  a 
league  against  the  Mongols.  The  Roman  Pontiff, 
fearing  for  the  Christian  rehgion,  preached  a  Holy 
War.  Saint  Louis  prepared  to  march  in  person 
against  the  barbarians. 

"All  of  civilized  Europe  was  given  over  to  anx- 
iety and  apprehension.  The  Tartars  were  repre- 
sented as  monsters  living  upon  human  flesh."* 
"Even  the  most  reasonable  believed  that  the  end 
of  the  world  was  at  hand.  The  people  of  Gog  and 
JSIagog  advancing  under  the  command  of  the  Anti- 
christ were  about  to  bring  about  the  destruction 
of  the  universe."  Suddenly,  as  though  by  common 
agreement  or  following  some  general  command,  the 
widely  scattered  hordes  of  horsemen  turned  once 
more  towards  the  East,  finally  settling  in  great 
armed  camps  upon  the  fertile  steppes  near  the 
shores  of  the  Volga.  In  this  inexplicable  action, 
as  mysterious  as  their  first  appearance  from  the 
heart  of  Asia,  the  writers  of  the  time  perceived  the 
hand  of  an  unseen  Providence.  The  avenging 
wrath  of  the  Deity  had  been  turned  aside  by  the 
intercession  of  the  priests  and  holy  men  of 
Christendom. 

*  Me  moires  de  Joinville. 


4  THE  COSSACKS 

Yet  complete  as  the  conquest  of  the  Tartars  ap- 
peared to  be  it  was  not  destined  to  outlast  the  cen- 
tury which  saw  its  rise.  As  usual  in  Oriental  des- 
potisms the  seeds  of  its  dissolution  came  from 
within. 

The  first  result  of  these  disaffections  —  notably 
a  revolt  of  the  Nogai  tribesmen  against  the  princes 
of  the  Golden  Horde  —  was  the  disappearance  of 
the  crude  administrative  system  exercised  by  the 
Tartar  rulers  over  the  old  tribes  of  the  steppes. 
These  began  once  more  to  reassert  their  inde- 
pendence. Bands  of  Scjrthian  refugees,  Khosars, 
Khomans  and  "Khosaks,"  began  to  leave  the 
marshy  deltas  of  the  great  rivers  such  as  the  Don 
and  Dnieper  —  where  they  had  found  in  conmion 
a  precarious  refuge  —  and  mounted  on  horses 
stolen  from  the  Tartars  returned  to  their  familiar 
haunts.  Here  a  terrible  desolation  spoke  every- 
where of  "Tartar  Peace."  How  complete  had  been 
the  destruction  of  whole  tribes  and  settlements  of 
the  previous  inliabitants  —  caught  by  the  over- 
whelming avalanche  of  Tartar  horsemen  —  is  pic- 
tured by  the  monkish  chroniclers  of  a  previous  gen- 
eration. In  Halduyt's  Voyages  these  travellers 
describe  how  "for  over  three  hundred  leagues"  they 
passed  through  great  fields  of  whitening  bones, 
*'the  only  signs  that  might  recall  the  presence  of 
previous  inhabitants  of  the  steppes." 

The  wars  of  the  princes  of  Tartary  with  the  re- 
volted Nogai  and  the  struggles  of  the  latter  with 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  "FREE  PEOPLE"     5 

the  Russians  now  gave  to  the  miserable  remnants 
of  the  ancient  lords  of  Scythia  an  opportunity  to 
recover  something  of  their  ascendency,  over 
the  wildest  and  most  deserted  parts  of  the  steppes. 
As  these  scattered  tribesmen  became  more  skilled 
in  desert  warfare,  both  Russians  and  Tartars  oc- 
casionally sought  their  alliance  and  the  aid  of  their 
ill-armed  cavalry  in  settling  their  quarrels.  But 
whether  gathered  in  armed  camps  or  Slovods,  or 
else  leading  an  errant  nomad  life,  these  "war 
bands,"  composed  of  refugees  and  renegades  of 
every  origin,  were  a  constant  menace  to  the 
frontiers  of  their  more  civilized  neighbours;  pirat- 
ing on  the  great  rivers  and  attacking  the  caravans  of 
Russian  or  Tartar  merchants  with  indifferent  zeal. 
In  the  precarious  existence  of  these  rovers,  we  find 
the  first  traces  of  the  frontier  "civilization"  of  the 
Cossacks. 

No  problem  of  Russian  history  has  given  rise  to 
more  controversy  than  that  of  the  origin  of  the 
Cossack  race.  It  now  appears  established  that  the 
influence  of  the  geographic  and  climatic  conditions 
which  exist  on  the  steppes,  modifying  to  a  common 
type  the  characteristics  of  the  peoples  and 
tribes  (often  of  wholly  different  origin)  who 
in  turn  have  inhabited  the  ancient  lands  of  the 
Scyths  —  is  the  paramount  factor  in  solving  this 
problem.  The  tracing  of  blood  ties  and  relation- 
ships would  therefore  seem  of  less  importance  than 
an  understanding  of  the  conditions  under  which  the 


6  THE  COSSACKS 

characteristic  Cossack  civilization  has  been  devel- 
oped. 

The  Russian  word  Kasah  —  of  which  "Cossack" 
is  the  English  equivalent  —  still  signifies  in  several 
Tartar  dialects  a  "Horseman"  or  "Rover."  By  a 
not  unnatural  association  of  ideas  this  term  has 
been  adopted  at  different  times  and  in  widely  sep- 
arated localities  as  a  tribal  name  by  nomad  peoples 
of  the  steppes.  But  the  attempt  not  infrequently 
made  to  trace  a  direct  connection  between  these 
tribes  and  the  famous  Kasahi  of  modern  Russia  is 
generally  based  upon  far-fetched  historical  anal- 
ogies.* 

In  Clarke's  famous  "Travels  in  the  Ukraine"  the 
ingenious  theory  is  advanced  that  the  country  of 
"Kasachia"  mentioned  by  Constantine  Porphyro- 
genetes  was  the  original  homeland  of  the  modern 
"tribes"  of  Russia  which  have  taken  the  general 
name  of  Kasak  or  Cossack.  But  the  relative  un- 
importance of  this  people  lost  among  powerful 

*  A  modern  example  exists  of  the  facility  with  which 
errors  may  be  made  in  tracing  tribal  relationships  through 
nomenclature  alone.  Not  far  from  Tiflis,  near  the  fron- 
tiers of  old  Armenia,  the  author  recently  visited  the  ter- 
ritory occupied  by  a  tribe  of  Tartar  origin  still  called 
"Kasaks."  The  skill  of  these  nomads  as  rug-weavers  has 
filled  the  bazaars  with  a  coarse  but  well-woven  carpet  bear- 
ing their  tribal  name.  It  is  certain,  however,  that  neither 
ethnographically  nor  historically  does  any  connection  ex- 
ist between  these  nomad  tribesmen  and  the  Cossacks  of 
modern  Russia. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  "FREE  PEOPLE"     7 

neighbours  whose  history  has  survived  to  the 
present  day  is  the  strongest  argument  against  such 
a  supposition.  Moreover,  as  we  have  already 
pointed  out,  other  tribes  of  this  name  have  more 
than  once  risen  to  temporary  importance  in  the 
annals  of  the  steppes. 

It  was  not  until  the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth 
century  that  the  ebbing  tide  of  Tartar  invasion, 
which  for  nearly  two  centuries  had  submerged  the 
richest  lands  of  the  great  Russian  plain,  once  more 
opened  to  settlement  from  the  North  the  rich 
steppes  of  the  "Black  Earth"  district,  and  the 
scarcely  less  fertile  lands  to  the  South  and  East. 
During  this  long  period  of  subjection  the  Russian 
nation  had  been  held  back  from  its  richest  heritage. 

Scattered  among  the  Finnish  aborigines  of  the 
great  northern  forests  —  in  that  fabulous  land  of 
"Cimmerian  darkness"  where,  as  Herodotus  states, 
the  inhabitants  "spend  half  their  time  in  slumber" — 
the  men  of  "Rus"  had  kept  alive  the  faith  of  their 
ancestors  while  learning  their  long  lesson  of  pa- 
tience and  endurance.  Thus  it  came  about  that  so 
many  of  the  old  centres  and  cities  of  Holy  Russia 
are  found  today  in  the  most  barren  and  unattrac- 
tive parts  of  the  gi*eat  Russian  plain. 

"When  the  prairies  of  the  Ukraine  —  the  "border 
land"  —  had  ceased  to  be  the  hunting  grounds  of 
roving  nomads,  and  the  Asiatic  hordes  had  with- 
drawn with  their  flocks  and  herds  to  the  oases  of 
their  native   deserts,   the   peasant  population   of 


8  THE  COSSACKS 

Northern  Russia  became  filled  with  a  restless  fever 
for  emigration.  Out  of  the  dark  fir  wilderness 
came  bands  of  pioneers,  —  dazzled  by  the  bright 
sunlight  of  the  steppes,  —  pressing  ever  south- 
ward. Thus  settlers  of  true  Russian  blood  began 
once  more  to  populate  the  war-worn  plains  of 
Scji;hia  where  free  land  and,  dearer  still,  personal 
freedom  rewarded  the  daring  of  the  adventurer. 

While  fear  and  hunger  had  kept  them  submis- 
sively huddled  about  the  wooden  fortresses  of  the 
hoyars,  no  laws  had  been  necessary  to  chain  the 
peasants  to  the  glebe.  Serfdom  now  began  in  Rus- 
sia at  the  time  when  the  feudal  system  of  Europe 
was  sinking  into  decay.  For  when  the  princes  and 
nobles  of  these  northern  principalities  found  their 
apanages  and  broad  grants  of  forest  land  fast  re- 
verting to  wilderness  through  the  flight  of  the  agri- 
cultural laborers,  legal  steps  were  taken  to  pre- 
serve their  "rights."  In  edicts  of  Ivan  the  Terrible 
and  Boris  Godounov,  we  find  the  legislative  traces 
of  this  great  southern  movement.  Yet,  in  spite  of 
terrible  punishments  and  laws  enacted  to  keep  the 
peasants  from  roving,  the  moujiki  continued  to 
join  themselves  to  the  remnants  of  the  wild  Asiatic 
tribes  and  the  no  less  barbarous  "Cossacks"  of  their 
own  race,  who  had  established  themselves  in  vaga- 
bond cormnunities  following  close  upon  the  receding 
frontier  of  Tartar  invasion. 

It  would  appear  that  about  this  time  the  term 
Cossack  or  Kasak  was  first  used  to  describe  a 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  "FREE  PEOPLE"     9 

"masterless  man,"  one  who  refused  to  identify  him- 
self with  the  Krestianin  or  ordinaiy  agricultural 
laborer  (a  class  about  to  fall  wholly  into  the  con- 
dition of  serfdom) .  The  same  word  may  previously 
have  been  used  by  the  Tartars  after  their  conquest 
of  Russia  to  denote  tribesmen  who,  refusing  to 
settle  in  towns  or  colonies,  preferred  to  continue  the 
nomad  and  adventurous  life  of  their  ancestors.  The 
name  also  began  to  be  applied  to  soldier-merce- 
naries from  the  steppe  "war  bands,"  who,  while 
maintaining  the  warlike  traditions  of  this  wander- 
ing life,  refused  to  become  incorporated  among  the 
men-at-arms  attached  to  the  great  boyars  or  to  take 
permanent  service  in  the  paid  militia  formed  by  the 
Tsars  after  the  reign  of  Ivan  IV. 

To  the  brutal  methods  of  Tartar  dominion 
may  be  ascribed  traits  which  have  left  a  deep 
mark  on  the  government  and  policy  of  the  empire 
of  the  Tsars.  Russian  historians  are  now  the  first 
to  recognize  the  depth  and  force  of  this  influence. 
Naturally  democratic  in  their  ideals  and  personal 
relations,  long  subjection  to  the  Tartars  taught  the 
Slav  people  subservience,  and  (together  with  later 
principles  borrowed  by  Peter  the  Great  from  the 
Prussian  system)  furnished  their  rulers  a  model  of 
greedy  despotism  and  autocratic  power.  Even  the 
excesses  of  revolution  in  our  own  day  show  the  per- 
sistence in  the  Russian  state  of  these  pernicious 
alien  influences. 

Under  the  ruthless  sword-strokes  of  Czar  Vasili, 


10  THE  COSSACKS 

and  his  successor  Ivan  the  Terrible,  began  the  up- 
building of  the  great  modern  state  of  Russia  — 
engulfing  in  an  ever-widening  circle  of  dominion 
the  liberties  of  lesser  princelings  and  the  bour- 
geoisie of  the  forest  "City  Republics."  Such  was 
the  fate  of  Pskov,  of  the  Free  Republic  of  Vologda 
and  the  city  of  "Lord  Novgorod  the  Great." 

Meanwhile,  on  the  vast  southern  plains,  under 
the  leadership  of  dispossessed  hoyars,  renegade 
Polish  nobles,  Turkish  janissaries,  or  even  some 
far-wandering  French  or  German  adventurer,  the 
characteristic  civilization  of  the  Ukraine  Cossack 
communities  steadily  grew  and  strengthened.  Re- 
cruited from  sturdy  vagabonds  of  every  race  and 
clan,  "stolen  youths,  thieves  and  patriots"  armed 
with  the  weapons  they  had  brought  with  them  from 
Russia  or  with  the  bows  and  arrows  of  their  Tartar 
neighbours,  they  fought  for  and  gradually  obtained 
the  right  to  exist  and  to  remain  free. 

In  view  of  the  importance  of  geographical  con- 
ditions upon  the  inhabitants  of  these  plains,  it  now 
becomes  necessary  to  consider  at  greater  length 
some  of  the  phenomena  peculiar  to  the  South  Rus- 
sian Steppes.  For  thousands  of  years  —  until  the 
coming  of  the  railways  in  recent  times  —  the  prob- 
lems of  life  on  the  Russian  prairies  must  have  pre- 
sented themselves  again  and  again  under  the  same 
ine^^table  forms.  The  nations  who  established  their 
permanent  home  in  this  fertile  "smiling  wilder- 
ness" were  all  endowed  with  similar  characteristics. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  "FREE  PEOPLE"   11 

Their  lives  were  passed  on  horseback  and  their  ex- 
istence depended  on  their  skill  as  breeders  of  half- 
wild  cattle  and  hunters  of  wary  game.  The  Greek 
legend  of  the  Centaurs  was,  in  their  case,  scarcely 
an  exaggeration.  In  plains  so  vast  as  to  be  almost 
without  natural  limits  or  defensible  frontiers  a 
necessary  factor  of  effective  occupation  became  the 
ability  to  defend  a  chosen  area  at  any  moment  in 
hand  to  hand  encounters  with  a  mobile  foe.  High- 
ways of  trade  and  communication  coidd  be 
shifted  —  in  the  absence  of  all  natural  obstacles  — 
with  the  same  ease  that  a  new  course  can  be  steered 
at  sea.  For  this  reason,  the  objects  of  steppe  war- 
fare were  different  from  those  of  ordinary  strategy. 
In  reading  of  the  military  campaigns  of  the 
Ukraine  we  must  often  be  prepared  to  draw  our 
comparisons  from  naval  rather  than  from  land  op- 
erations. 

The  country  known  as  the  Ukraine,  where  the 
characteristic  Cossack  civilization  arose  and  de- 
veloped, is,  as  the  name  indicates,  a  continental 
*'border  land,"  neither  European  nor  Asiatic.  On 
the  wide  steppes  of  the  Black  Sea  basin  even  the 
climatic  influences  of  north  and  south  meet  with- 
out blending.  Thus,  while  during  the  short  simimer 
months  a  true  southern  climate  prevails,  yet  the  .  / 
return  of  winter  is  marked  by  a  cold  nearly  sub- 
arctic in  its  intensity. 

In  the  famous  Black  Earth  region  about  Kiev 
and  Poltava,  the  brief  harvest  season  forms  the 


12  THE  COSSACKS 

climax  of  a  miracle  of  growth.  Under  the  rays  of 
an  almost  tropical  sun  the  wide  fields  of  grain 
change  from  silvery  green  to  tawny  gold  in  the 
space  of  days  rather  than  weeks.  But  with  the  ad- 
vent of  another  season  the  arctic  winds  sweep 
straight  from  the  Polar  seas,  unchecked  by  hill  or 
mountain  range,  all  conquering,  across  the  whole 
level  expanse  of  New  Russia.  Upon  the  sunny 
steppes  tightens  once  more  the  icy  grip  of  the 
Empire  of  the  North.  There  can  be  no  softening 
of  the  fibre,  no  slackening  of  the  powers  of  sturdy 
resistance  which  above  all  else  characterize  the 
Russian  race  in  the  population  of  such  a  land. 
Both  in  physique  and  temperament  the  lithe  dark 
inhabitant  of  the  Ukraine  presents  the  type  of  a 
southerner.  While  sprung  from  the  same  stock  he 
is  as  distinct  from  the  blond  dweller  of  the  north 
as  the  Proven9al  of  France  is  different  from  the 
blue-eyed  Norman.  To  his  Slav  nature  the  brief 
vision  of  southern  summer  has  added  a  touch  of 
imagination,  a  capacity  for  boisterous  enjoyment, 
lacking,  at  any  rate  less  apparent,  in  the  Russian 
of  "Muscovy." 

^  Before  the  coming  of  the  farmer  and  his  plough 
the  plains  of  the  Uki*aine  were  everywhere  covered 

^  by  high  waving  gi'asses,  similar  to  the  vanished 
prairies  of  far  western  America,  or  the  vegas  of 
southern  Andalusia.  Often  this  growth  is  so  thick 
that  a  horseman  can  only  with  difficulty  force  his 
way,  and  the  half -wild  cattle  almost  disappear  in 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  "FREE  PEOPLE"   13 

the  ricliness  of  their  pasture.  Not  even  a  tree  or 
bush  breaks  the  straight  sky  line  of  the  horizon. 
Meandering  in  wide  curves,  often  with  a  scarcely- 
perceptible  fall  from  north  to  south,  four  great 
rivers  form  the  most  striking  geographical  features 
of  these  plains:  the  Dnieper,  the  Don,  and  farther 
eastward  the  mighty  "Mother  Volga"  and  her  lesser 
companion,  the  Ural.  "Her  rivers,"  says  Rambaud, 
"are  the  only  allies  of  man  against  Russia's  great 
enemy  —  distance."  In  winter  their  frozen  surface, 
and  in  summer  their  broad  tide,  are  the  principal 
pathways  from  one  part  of  this  great  land  to  an- 
other. 

It  was  upon  the  shores  of  the  great  river 
Dnieper,  known  to  the  Ancients  as  the  Borys- 
thenes,  that  the  first  permanent  Cossack  commu- 
nities established  had  their  settlements. 


By  slow  degrees,  under  the  increasing  influence 
of  peasant  immigration  from  the  North  (bringing 
with  it  the  religion  of  Russia  and  such  rude  civili- 
zation as  the  northern  woods  had  developed)  the 
Asiatic  and  "tribal"  features  of  Cossack  life  began 
to  disappear.  During  the  early  days  of  the  XVIth 
century  they  had  so  strengthened  their  hold  upon 
the  broad  lands  lying  between  the  Dnieper  and  the 
Don,  that  we  find  the  terms  "Free  Cossacks  of  the 
Ukraine"  and  even  "The  Repubhc  of  the  Don" 
used  to  describe  their  settlements. 


y 


14  THE  COSSACKS 

But  the  early  condition  of  these  wandering  Cos- 
sack communities  must  have  been  a  matter  of  scorn 
even  to  the  primitive  tribes  of  the  Boujiak  Tartars 
who  were  their  neighbours.  Family  life  or  social  or- 
\i  ganization  were  all  but  impossible  under  the  con- 
ditions of  their  harried  existence.  Some  of  these 
steppe  bands  (as  we  shall  later  observe  in  the  case 
of  the  "Brotherhood"  of  the  Zaporogian  Cossacks, 
inliabiting  the  shores  and  islands  of  the  Dnieper) 
even  appear  to  have  forbidden  the  presence  of 
women  in  their  camps. 

In  the  growing  Cossack  settlements  or  slovods 
only  the  sturdiest  of  the  children  were  allowed  to 
survive.  As  a  preparation  for  a  lifelong  struggle 
with  the  forces  of  the  steppes  "their  mothers  were 
wont  to  plunge  them  at  birth  either  into  a  snow- 
drift or  in  a  mixture  of  salt  and  water."*  None  of 
the  scanty  provisions  of  the  tribe  could  be  wasted 
upon  weaklings  or  those  of  unpromising  physique. 
When  scarcely  able  to  walk,  the  young  Cossacks 
were  placed  on  horseback  and  "soon  learned  to 
swim  wide  rivers  thus  mounted"  (ibid).  At  an 
early  age  they  were  only  allowed  food  when  by 
their  unaided  skill  with  bow  and  arrow  they  had 
brought  down  the  wild  game  which  supplied  the 
family  cook-pot.  The  clothing  of  the  first  Cossack 
tribesmen  was  contrived  from  sheepskins  or  the 
hides  of  wild  beasts.     Only  the  chieftains  of  the 

*  Histoire  de  la  Guerre  des  Kosaques.  P.  Chevalier. 
Paris,  1668. 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  "FREE  PEOPLE"   15 

highest  rank  were  able  to  afford  garments  of 
coarsely  woven  cloth  dyed  in  brilliant  colours 
(ibid).  In  case  of  sickness  the  Cossack  remedy 
was  to  mount  on  horseback  and,  after  galloping 
across  the  plain  until  both  steed  and  rider  were  ex- 
hausted, to  open  a  small  vein  in  the  shoulder  of 
their  mount  and  drink  the  warm  blood.* 

As  their  flocks  and  herds  multiplied  upon  the 
generous  pasturage  there  gi'ew  up  in  the  former 
"Tartar  desert"  a  characteristic  light-hearted  civil- 
ization peculiar  to  the  steppes.  In  the  Little  Rus- 
sians of  the  present  day  we  may  still  trace  the 
manners  and  customs  of  this  Free  Cossack  ancestry. 
Moreover  as  their  ability  to  resist  the  encroaching 
tyranny  of  the  Russian  hoyars  increased,  the  Free 
Cossacks  sought  an  early  opportunity  to  renew  re- 
lations with  their  European  kinsmen.  A  common 
danger  and  their  mutual  hatred  of  the  Turks  and 
Tartars  were  forces  tending  to  unite  them  with  their 
Christian  kindred  the  Russians  and  Poles.  But  in 
Poland  the  feudal  land  holders  could  find  no  place 
in  their  aristocratic  state  for  freemen  not  of  the 
noble  classes,  while  in  Russia  the  condition  of  the 
moujiki  warned  the  Cossacks  against  the  dangers 
of  a  too  binding  alliance  with  the  Tsar. 

In  order  to  secure  the  military  aid  of  the  Cos- 
sacks, the  Polish  kings  were  forced  to  allow  them 

*  A  similar  custom  is  noted  by  the  Englishman  Clarke 
in  his  Travels  in  the  Ukraine  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century. 


16  THE  COSSACKS 

to  establish  lists  or  "Registers"  of  "Free  Soldiers" 
to  whom  claim  of  serfage  was  relinquished  by  the 
feudal  lords.  These  latter,  however,  always  claimed 
\  possession  of  the  lands  occupied  by  the  Cossacks 
and  their  right  to  liberty  as  a  caste  was  never  recog- 
nized. This,  as  we  shall  later  see,  was  the  cause  of 
the  gi'eat  uprising  ending  in  the  separation  of  the 
Cossack  Ukraine  from  the  Polish  crown. 

In  spite  of  these  differences,  however,  the  eastern 
Cossack  steppes  began,  soon  after  the  downfall  of 
the  Tartars,  to  be  considered  the  defensive  frontiers 
of  both  Poland  and  the  Muscovite  empire.  The 
Cossack  warriors  of  the  Polish  Ukraine,  though 
clinging  tenaciously  to  their  liberties  and  denying 
any  right  on  the  part  of  an  alien  government  to 
claim  their  services,  often  entered  the  feudal  mili- 
tary companies  of  the  Polish  nobles  as  volunteers  or 
paid  men-at-arms,  while  farther  to  the  eastward, 
their  kindred  entered  the  service  of  the  Tsar. 

The  last  stronghold  of  the  Tartars  in  Russia  — 
Kazan  —  was  captured  by  Ivan  the  Terrible  after 
a  long  siege  ending  October  2,  1551.  We  find  in 
the  list  of  troops  taking  part  in  these  operations 
the  presence  noted  of  a  large  contingent  of  Cos- 
sacks: "Cossacks  of  the  town  and  Cossacks  of  the 
country."  These  together  with  the  newly-formed 
Russian  streltzi  or  regular  troops  took  a  prominent 
part  in  the  assault.  From  1553  to  1555  Ivan  com- 
pleted his  conquests  along  the  whole  course  of  the 
Volga,  finally  capturing  Astrakhan  near  the  shores 


THE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  "FREE  PEOPLE"  17 

of  the  Caspian.  Their  admiration  for  the  Tsar's 
exploits  against  the  common  enemy,  and  perhaps  a 
wholesome  realization  of  the  fact  that  his  armies 
now  controlled  an  easy  base  of  approach  to  the 
strongholds  of  their  "republic,"  led  the  Cossacks  - 
inhabiting  the  shores  of  the  Don  to  place  them- 
selves under  his  protection.  The  Cossacks  of  the 
Dnieper  remained,  however,  in  the  pay  of  Poland. 
Thus  occurred  the  first  great  separation  in  the 
loose  confederation  of  the  "Free  Companions  of  — 
the  Steppes."* 

After  the  more  or  less  voluntary  submission  of 
the  "Free  Cossacks  of  the  Don"  the  Russian  Tsars 
soon  began  to  make  use  of  their  matchless 
skill  in  frontier  warfare.  An  arrangement  mu- 
tually favorable  was  now  perfected  and  the 
Cossacks  became  the  basis  of  a  system  of  de- 
fensive militia  pohcing  the  steppes  against  the 
Crimean  Tartars.  Although  the  Muscovite 
peasants  were  brave  and  (above  all)  docile  foot 
soldiers,  their  usefulness  as  cavalry  was  limited. 
Previous  to  the  time  when  Cossacks  were  enrolled 
for  this  purpose,  it  had  been  found  necessary  —  in 
order  to  defend  the  open  frontiers  of  Muscovy  —  to 
mobilize  eveiy  year  a  force  of  about  65,000  men. 
Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  rendezvous  chosen  lay 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Oka,  this  was  called  the 
annual  "banks  service."  In  the  early  days  this 
duty  had  been  performed  by  the  feudal  levies  of  the 

*  Rambaud,  op.  cit.,  page  223. 


18  THE  COSSACKS 

great  hoyars,  whose  serf  and  peasant  troops  at- 
tended the  annual  musters  unwillingly  and  often  at 
great  inconvenience  to  themselves  during  the  har- 
vest season  (a  time  therefore  usually  chosen  by 
the  Tartars  for  their  raids).  As  early  as  1571  a 
Russian  hoyar.  Prince  Borotinsky,  began  to  em- 
ploy a  system  of  mixed  Cossack  and  militia  patrols 
which  appears  to  have  differed  but  little  from  the 
military  colonies  or  stanitzi  of  the  later  Cossack 
"armies."  During  the  seasons  less  favorable  to  the 
Tartar  raids  a  protective  service  alone  was  main- 
tained. This  was  called  the  "Watch  and  Post  Ser- 
vice" and  consisted  of  Cossacks  living  in  rude  block- 
houses linked  together  by  small  fortified  camps. 
This  first  line  of  defense  was  intended,  however, 
rather  to  impede  the  march  of  the  Tartar  raiders  — 
and  to  give  warning  of  their  sudden  coming  —  than 
to  attempt  any  serious  resistance. 

Mobile  outposts  composed  of  squads  of  two,  four 
or  six  horsemen,  to  each  of  which  was  assigned  a 
regular  "ride"  of  about  a  day's  journey,  joined 
together  the  Cossack  encampments  or  settlements 
which  were  generally  set  upon  high  places  from 
whence  an  outlook  could  be  kept  across  the  plains. 
In  each  of  these  encampments  horses  stood  ready 
saddled,  so  that  upon  the  appearance  of  suspicious 
signs  —  the  distant  black  dots  in  the  yellow  waste, 
denoting  the  scouts  of  the  enemy,  or  the  inevitable 
clouds  of  dust  raised  by  the  hoofs  of  their  horses  — 


The  origin  of  the  'tree  people"  19 

the  news  could  be  immediately  communicated  to 
the  nearest  fortified  town. 

The  importance  of  the  services  thus  rendered  will 
be  realized  when  we  consider  that  according  to  a 
contemporary  English  writer  —  Fletcher  —  the 
Tartars  of  the  Crimea  were  accustomed  to  attack 
the  confines  of  the  Muscovite  empire  in  considerable 
force  once  or  twice  every  year. 

These  raids  were  sometimes  carried  out  at  Trin- 
ity time,  but  more  often  during  the  harvest  season. 
Now  and  again  a  winter  raid  was  undertaken,  when 
the  frozen  surface  of  the  swamps  and  rivers  facili- 
tated long  marches,  which  only  the  endurance  of  the 
sturdy  little  Tartar  ponies  rendered  possible. 
Through  constant  familiarity  with  the  Russian  bor- 
derland and  the  intervening  steppes  the  Tartars 
learned  to  know  the  best  trails  and  bridle  tracks, 
and,  most  important  of  all,  where  the  richest  booty 
could  most  easily  be  obtained.  "Avoiding  all  river 
crossings  and  picking  their  way  along  the  trackless 
plateaus  —  at  the  same  time  carefully  hiding  their 
movements  from  the  IMusco^dte  steppe  riders  — 
they  would  suddenly  penetrate  in  a  solid  mass  into 
some  populous  district  for  a  distance  of  about  a 
hundred  versts.  Then  turning  in  their  track  and, 
throwing  out  long  wings  to  either  side  of  the  main 
body  like  a  flock  of  wild  geese  —  they  would  sweep 
away  everything  that  lay  in  the  path." 

Kaffa,  in  the  Crimea,  was  the  principal  slave 
market  where  the  prisoners  captured  in  these  raids, 


20  THE  COSSACKS 

men,  girls  and  children,  (the  latter  carefully  trans- 
ported in  panniers  carried  for  the  purpose)  were 
sold  to  the  Turkish  markets.* 

In  protecting  the  Tsar's  dominions  against  the 
intolerable  suffering  caused  by  these  raids,  the 
Cossack  became  an  invaluable  adjunct  to  the 
armies  of  the  empire.  lAHien  the  Tartars  ceased  to 
be  a  menace  a  new  era  of  discovery  opened  to  Cos- 
sack enterprise;  when,  after  absorbing  all  neigh- 
boring Russian  states,  the  power  of  the  Great 
Princes  of  Moscow  was  turned  towards  the  East 
in  an  irresistible  movement  of  expansion  wliich  was 
to  extend  across  Asia  to  the  continent  of  the  New 
World.  Cossack  troops  played  the  principal  part 
in  these  expeditions.  Leaders  —  of  whom  the  Doh- 
skoi  hetman  Yermak  was  the  chief  and  prototype 
—  crossed  Siberia  looking  for  a  land  passage.  An 
obscure  Cossack  adventurer  engaged  in  this  quest 
was  the  first  European  to  set  eyes  upon  the 
Western  coast  of  the  great  Alaskan  peninsula. 
Had  not  the  grey  waters  of  the  Straits  of  Behring 
rolled  between  —  the  matchless  energy  of  these 
frontiersmen  might  have  claimed  the  western  coast 
of  America  for  the  Tsar. 

*   (See  Fletcher's  ''TraveUr) 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  ZAPOROGIAN  COSSACKS 

WHETHER  the  political  condition  of  the 
early  Cossack  settlements  of  the  Ukraine  — 
the  wide  debatable  frontier  region  lying  between 
Poland,  Russia  and  the  Mussulman  states  to  the 
south  and  west  —  ever  entitled  the  "Free  People" 
to  be  considered  a  separate  state  or  nationality  has 
been  a  subject  of  long  and  fruitless  controversy. 
Matchless  frontiersmen,  the  Cossacks  could  neither 
defend  nor  define  the  vague  boundaries  of 
their  own  "Free  Steppes."  At  every  crisis  their 
undisciplined  ways  and  hatred  of  a  central  author- 
ity led  to  internal  divisions  —  and  these  in  turn  to 
inevitable  subjection  by  one  of  the  stronger  nations 
surrounding  them. 

During  the  reign  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  the  ma- 
jority of  the  Don  Cossacks  of  their  own  will  be- 
came subjects  of  the  Russian  Tsar  while  claiming 
privileges  and  immunities  which  have  differenti- 
ated them  from  the  Russian  moujik  to  the  present 
day.  The  Eastern  branch  of  the  Cossack  race  thus 
became  part  of  the  great  Muscovite  empire  (al- 
though they  appear  to  have  continued  to  use  the 
title  of  "republic"  among  themselves  imtil  a  recent 
date. ) 

21 


22  THE  COSSACKS 

During  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century 
the  Cossacks  inhabiting  the  shores  of  the  Dnieper, 
found  themselves  inevitably  drawn  into  more  or 
less  close  "alliance"  with  the  Poles  against  the  raids 
of  the  Tul'ks  and  Tartars.  While  resisting  to  the 
utmost  the  claims  of  the  Polish  magnates,  whose 
vague  feudal  rights  extended  over  a  great  part  of 
the  lands  tilled  and  defended  by  the  Cossacks, 
the  border  stanitzi  or  settlements  remained  gen- 
erally subject  to  the  Polish  crown. 

The  kings  of  Poland  soon  sought  to  direct  to 
their  own  advantage  the  courage  and  warlike  ca- 
pacity which  their  Cossack  neighbors  had  devel- 
oped through  generations  of  warfare  against  the 
common  enemy.  Under  King  Sigismond  a  Cos- 
sack hetman  (called  by  the  Polish  chroniclers  Os- 
taphgeus)  proposed  to  the  Polish  Senate  that  his 
countrymen  be  formed  into  a  border  guard  or  mili- 
tia to  defend  the  frontiers  of  the  kingdom  against 
the  Tartars. 

His  plan  contemplated  the  building  of  a  flotilla 
on  the  Dnieper  below  the  cataracts,  capable  of 
transporting  two  thousand  men  and  four  hundred 
horses  to  any  threatened  point  on  the  long  line  of 
river  frontier  "which  it  was  necessary  to  hold 
against  these  invaders."  He  assured  the  Polish 
king  that  even  this  small  force  disciplined  in  Cos- 
sack fashion  could  effectually  stop  the  hordes  of 
the  Ghirai  Khans  of  the  Crimea,  who  "were  every- 
where forced  to  cross  the  broad  stream  by  swim- 


A  ZAPOROGIAN  COSSACK 


1< 


THE  ZAPOROGIAN  COSSACKS  23 

ming  their  horses  and  could  thus  be  taken  at  a 
disadvantage." 

Under  a  successor  of  Ostaphaeus,  the  Hetman 
Ruchinskov,  the  Cossacks  of  the  Dneiper  in  return 
for  a  promised  subsidy  of  lands  and  money  from 
the  Polish  crown,  adopted  a  method  of  frontier 
defense,  which  later  formed  the  basis  of  the  cele- 
brated military  organization  of  the  "Zaporo- 
gians."  The  general  plan  of  this  military  system 
in  many  ways  recalls  the  conditions  of  modern  Cos- 
sack military  service.  To  the  older  men,  the  weak- 
lings and  to  the  veterans  of  several  campaigns  was 
reserved  the  privilege  of  family  life  in  the  Cossack 
settlements  or  stanitzi,  scattered  along  the  shores  of 
the  upper  Dnieper,  near  Kiev.  Here  they  culti- 
vated the  soil  and  tended  the  flocks  which  formed 
the  principal  riches  of  the  conununity. 

Meanwhile,  the  younger  men  gathered  in  armed 
camps  and  outposts  on  the  islands  below  the  cata- 
racts, ready  for  any  martial  adventure  that  might 
present  itself.  These  military  gatherings,  or  mus- 
ters, were  especially  frequented  during  the  summer 
months  or  at  any  time  when  hostile  raids  might  be 
expected.  If  no  foray  of  the  Turks  or  Tartars 
threatened  the  Cossacks'  settlements  —  or  the  lands 
of  the  Polish  republic  they  were  paid  to  defend  — 
expeditions  were  organized  against  the  Turkish 
colonies  on  tlie  shores  of  the  Black  Sea.  Lc  ig 
Cossack  boats,  manned  by  chosen  warriors,  would 
then  shoot  the  rapids  of  the  Dnieper,  falling  with 


24  THE  COSSACKS 

the  suddenness  of  a  thunderbolt  upon  some  distant 
point  of  the  Turkish  littoral,  even  before  rumours 
of  their  approach  could  reach  the  outposts  of  the 
enemy. 

In  winter  only  the  more  strategic  or  threatened 
points  among  the  islands  were  fortified  and  left  in 
charge  of  a  tried  garrison  consisting  of  a  few  thou- 
sand men.  These  chosen  troops  (called  by  the 
Poles  Proesidenti)  were  the  bands  which  became 
famous  at  a  later  day  under  the  local  name  of 
Za  Porogi  —  or  men  from  "beyond  the  rapids." 
The  principal  camp  of  the  Zaporogians  protected 
by  outposts  and  a  rude  fortress  was  known  as  the 

The  early  military  organization  and  strategy  of 
these  Dnieper  Cossacks  was  probably  but  little 
different  from  that  of  the  Tartar  levies.  By  the 
end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  however,  not  only  the 
garrisons  of  the  sitch  but  also  the  troops  and  mil- 
itia stationed  in  the  agricultural  settlements  along 
the  upper  Dnieper,  had  developed  a  characteristic 
system  of  military  service. 

In  the  Hetman  Bogdan  Kostchinskoi,  whose 
power  was  recognized  by  a  majority  of  the  free 
Cossacks  settled  along  the  Polish  frontiers.  King 
Stephen  Bathory  found  a  leader  capable  of  bring- 
ing order  and  discipline  out  of  the  anarchy  which 
had  previously  existed.  Upon  Bogdan  he  formally 
conferred  the  dignity  of  "Hetman  of  the  Ukraine" 
and  at  the  same  time  presented  him  with  splendid 


THE    ZAPOROGIAN    COSSACKS  25 

regalia  composed  of  the  Asiatic  symbols  recognized 
by  the  Cossacks  as  those  of  supreme  authority, 
namely:  the  houlava  or  baton  of  the  commander- 
in-chief;  the  buntchuk  or  horse-tail  standard  sim- 
ilar to  that  carried  before  the  conquering  generals 
of  Genghis  Khan.  To  these  were  added  the  tokens 
conferred  on  Polish  frontier  officials  —  a  great  seal 
of  office  and  the  standards  that  distinguished  the 
mercenaries  employed  by  the  kings  of  Poland. 

In  the  agricultural  settlements  or  stanitzi  of  the 
Ukraine  the  Cossack  levies  were  divided  into  regi- 
ments or  polki.  These,  in  turn,  were  subdivided 
into  companies  of  one  hundred  men  called  sotnia, 
an  organization  which  has  persisted  in  the  Cossack 
forces  of  the  present  day.  Although  a  general  of 
artillery,  or  ohozni  and  a  secretary,  or  pisari  were 
nominated  by  the  Polish  king  to  assist  the  hetman 
(and  at  the  same  time  to  oversee  the  more  technical 
details  of  military  organisation)  the  warlike  cus- 
toms of  the  Cossacks  were  not  interfered  with  and 
their  peculiar  methods  of  fighting  and  discipline 
were  generally  maintained.* 

*  In  a  "memorandum"  written  by  the  Palatine  Jan  So- 
bieski,  for  the  instruction  of  his  son  Jan,  the  hero-king  who 
was  to  raise  Poland  to  the  highest  pinnacle  of  her  glory, 
the  contemporary  Cossack  civilization  of  the  Polish  fron- 
tier is  thus  described:  "On  their  return  from  their  nu- 
merous forays  and  campaigns  against  the  enemy  a  part  of 
these  veteran  warriors  return  to  their  headquarters  in 
the  islands  of  the  Dnieper,  but  the  great  majority  en- 


26  THE  COSSACKS 

Desirous  at  first  of  building  up  the  strength  of 
the  Cossack  class,  the  Polish  nobles  allowed  these 
tribesmen  to  extend  their  homesteads  and  settle- 
ments into  southern  Podolia  and  Volhynia,  per- 
mitting them  to  enroll  as  "Free  Cossacks"  all  of 
the  fugitive  Russian  serfs  and  other  strangers  who 
succeeded  in  joining  their  forces.  By  this  wise 
policy  Bathory  intended  to  interpose  between  the 
frontiers  of  Poland  and  the  rising  power  of  Russia 
a  military  state  or  province  devoted  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  elective  kingdom.  At  the  same  time,  by 
bringing  into  cultivation  the  rich  steppes  of  the 
Ulo-aine  w^hich  had  lain  desolate  for  so  many  cen- 
turies through  fear  of  the  Tartar  raiders,  he  opened 
new  channels  for  the  commerce  of  the  Polish  cities. 

riched  by  their  booty  think  only  of  resuming  the  joys  of 
family  life.  Thus  they  camp  down  with  their  wives  and 
children  about  the  cities  belonging  to  the  crown  or  the 
nobility,  varying  the  monotony  by  holding  among  them- 
selves frequent  assemblies  where  discussion  often  ends  in 
bloody  combat.  ...  In  the  town  of  Tritchimorov, 
near  Kiev,  which  was  granted  to  them  by  Stephen 
Bathory,  in  recognition  of  their  services,  they  have  their 
arsenal,  their  treasury  and  their  common  market  or  meet- 
ing place.  Here  they  gather  the  spoils  collected  through 
their  piracies  from  the  Turkish  cities  of  Roumelia  and 
Asia  Minor.  Here,  too,  they  carefully  preserve  the 
charters  granted  to  them  by  the  republic  of  Poland  and 
the  standards  presented  to  their  leaders  by  Polish  kings 
on  the  occasions  when  they  have  been  asked  to  take  up 
their  arms  in  defense  of  the  state."  (Salvandy,  Jean 
Sohieslci.     Vol.  I,  page  182.) 


THE    ZAPOROGIAN    COSSACKS  27 

That  these  wise  plans  were  not  destined  to  be  fully 
realized  was  due  to  several  causes  difficult  to  fore- 
see. 

In  considering  the  history  of  the  Ukraine,  a  dis- 
tinction must  be  made  between  the  agricultural 
Cossack  settlements  of  the  Upper  Dnieper  and  the 
outposts  or  garrisons  of  the  "Za-Porogi"  to  which 
the  former  were  tributary.  The  cataracts  of  the 
Lower  Dnieper  are  divided  just  below  the  modern 
city  of  Ekaterinoslav  by  an  archipelago  of  hun- 
dreds of  rocky  islands  covered  with  a  shaggy 
growth  of  stunted  timber  and  underbrush.  To 
na\dgate  the  secret  channels  of  this  watery  laby- 
rinth requires  rare  skill  with  the  paddle,  a  knowl- 
edge to  be  obtained  only  through  constant  fa- 
miliarity. By  throwing  up  a  few  entrenchments  of 
logs  and  earthworks  any  of  these  islands,  isolated 
by  the  rapids,  was  capable  of  offering  an  almost 
impregnable  defense  against  the  attacks  of  an 
army  not  supplied  with  artillery. 

The  principal  camp  or  sitch  of  the  Cossack  gar- 
rison was  established  on  one  of  the  larger  islands, 
or  at  some  inaccessible  point  on  the  river.  This 
main  camp  was,  moreover,  frequently  transferred 
from  one  place  to  another  so  that  the  mystery 
which  surrounded  its  location  hid  the  varying  num- 
bers of  its  garrison  and  added  to  the  difficulties  of 
attack. 

The  military  capabilities  and  peculiar  organiza- 
tion of  the  Zaporogian  Cossacks  was  a  source  of 


28  THE  COSSACKS 

considerable  interest  and  inquiry  among  contem- 
porary military  authorities.  Many  writers  of  the 
eighteenth  century  —  wholly  ignorant  of  their  real 
condition  —  compared  these  famous  frontier  troops 
to  military  orders  of  chivalry  such  as  the  Knights 
of  the  Sword  in  Lithuania,  or  even  the  Knights  of 
Malta.  Others  compared  them  to  the  "Free 
Archers"  of  Charles  the  Seventh,  or  the  "military 
colonies"  of  Sparta  and  of  the  early  Grecian  states. 
As  Lesur  points  out,  a  more  reasonable  and  mod- 
ern parallel  is  to  be  found  in  that  strange  republic 
of  filibusters  who  almost  contemporaneously  es- 
tablished their  piratical  state  among  the  islands  of 
the  West  Indies.  If  this  comparison  does  some  in- 
justice to  the  Zaporogians  (to  whom  must  be  al- 
lowed the  merit  of  holding  in  check,  at  a  critical 
time,  the  ravages  of  the  Mussulman  invaders)  it 
will  appear  more  reasonable  if  viewed  in  the  light 
of  the  intolerable  nuisance  to  which  their  preten- 
sions gave  rise  at  a  later  date.  For,  while  the  Cos- 
sack settlements,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  became 
in  the  course  of  time  absorbed  by  the  civilization  of 
their  Russian  neighbours,  the  "Free  Companions" 
of  the  sitch  refused  to  adapt  themselves  in  any  way 
to  the  new  modes  of  life  made  necessary  by  the 
passing  of  frontier  conditions. 

Long  after  their  territory  had  become  sur- 
rounded by  peaceful  agricultural  colonists,  the 
Zaporogians  continued  to  live  their  own  boisterous 
life  as  in  the  days  when  the  Tartar  raids  almost 
hourly  threatened  the  community. 


THE    ZAPOROGIAN    COSSACKS  29 

As  far  as  the  author  is  aware,  no  historian  has 
ever  attempted  to  trace  the  development  of  the 
crude  system  of  island  outposts  until  these  became 
merged  in  the  famous  military  brotherhood  of  the 
semi-independent  Zaporogians,  or,  as  they  gen- 
erally styled  themselves,  "The  Free  and  Independ- 
ent Community  Beyond  the  Rapids."  *  Neverthe- 
less, the  history  of  the  long  struggle  between  Po- 
land and  Russia  for  the  fertile  provinces  of  the 
Ukraine  is  very  largely  concerned  with  the  doings 
of  this  turbulent  faction  among  the  Cossack  "na- 
tion." To  form  a  true  idea  of  the  appearance  of  the 
famous  sitcJi  or  stronghold  one  must  imagine  rather 
an  encampment  or  gathering  of  rude  huts  set  down 
amidst  a  clearing  in  the  forest.  These  were  de- 
fended by  the  rapids  of  the  Dnieper,  or  by  rude 
earthworks  in  no  way  recalling  a  mediaeval  for- 
tress. Great  sheds  or  barracks  built  of  sapUngs, 
covered  with  horse  or  cow-hides,  sheltered  the  gar- 
rison and  divided  it  into  definite  units  or  kourens. 
The  members  of  each  hour  en  sleeping  under  one 
roof,  eating  their  kasha  or  buckwheat  meal  from  a 
single  great  kettle,  enjoyed  in  common  a  kind  of 
boisterous  family  life.  In  spite  of  the  iron  disci- 
pline which  their  exposed  and  dangerous  position 
rendered  necessary,  the  government  of  the  sitch 
was  jealously  maintained  on  Lhe  most  democratic 

*  For  a  general  sketch  of  Zaporogian  "history"  see  a 
recently  published  pamphlet  by  Professor  D.  N.  Evar- 
itzky  of  Kharkov. 


30  THE  COSSACKS 

lines.  The  chief  of  this  warlike  republic  was  known 
as  the  koshovoy  ataman.  Although  possessed  of 
almost  unlimited  powers,  this  oflficer  was  liable  at 
any  moment  to  be  deposed  from  his  high  position 
by  a  public  meeting  of  the  brotherhood.  These 
assemblies  were  called  together  by  the  most  in- 
formal means  —  the  clashing  of  cymbals  or  the 
tumultuous  cries  of  any  party  strong  enough  to 
rouse  the  general  interests.  Together  with  his  aide- 
de-camp  or  jessoul  and  his  clerk,  or  pissar,  the 
koshovoy  ataman  might  thus  be  summoned  on  the 
most  frivolous  pretext  to  stand  before  the  as- 
sembled garrison.  Taking  his  station  beneath  the 
horsetail  standard  that  denoted  his  rank,  he  was 
expected  to  wait,  cap  in  hand,  the  outcome  of  the 
noisy  debate  which  decided  whether  or  not  his  ad- 
ministration was  satisfactory  to  the  Free  Com- 
panions. The  ceremony  just  described  was  gen- 
erally preceded  by  a  drinking  bout  wherein  quanti- 
ties of  gorilka,  brandy  (with  which  the  hardy  war- 
riors braced  themselves  when  called  upon  to  make 
any  momentous  decision) ,  were  consumed  as  a  nec- 
essaiy  preliminary  to  the  mental  effort  required. 
It  is,  therefore,  not  surprising  to  learn  that  such 
elections,  more  often  than  not,  ended  in  bloodshed. 
Whenever  the  tumult  seemed  to  indicate  that 
their  services  were  no  longer  required,  it  was  the 
custom  of  the  officials  composing  an  unpopular  "ad- 
ministration" formally  to  salute  their  comrades,  and 
clapping  on  their  shagg}''  sheepskin  headgear,  to 


THE    ZAPOROGIAN    COSSACKS  31 

return  to  the  ranks  of  their  own  kouren  thus  re- 
suming their  rights  as  Free  Cossacks. 

"The  election  of  a  new  koshovoy  ataman  then 
proceeded  under  conditions  which  made  the  ac- 
ceptance of  this  high  honour  as  humiliating  as  pos- 
sible for  the  successful  candidate.  The  kouren 
from  which  the  ataman  was  to  be  chosen  having 
first  been  decided  upon,  an  individual  member  was 
next  singled  out  by  the  noisy  shouts  of  his  ad- 
herents. Ten  of  the  most  insolent  and  intoxi- 
cated elders  of  the  general  assembly  were  usually 
deputed  to  announce  to  the  new  chieftain  the  hon- 
our conferred  upon  him.  It  was  no  false  modesty 
that  often  caused  the  responsibilities  of  this  high  po- 
sition to  be  declined.  Like  Caesar,  etiquette  de- 
manded that  the  newly  elected  koshovoy  should  at 
least  twice  refuse  the  dangerous  distinction  offered 
him.  It  was  only  after  being  knocked  half  sense- 
less by  the  back  slapping  and  rough  congratula- 
tions of  his  electors  that  he  might  properly  consent 
to  be  dragged  beneath  the  red  horsetail  standard 
where  the  final  indignity  connected  with  his  in- 
stallation awaited  him.  The  oldest  Cossacks 
present,  gathering  up  handfuls  of  mud  from  the 
river  bank,  proceeded  in  turn  to  smear  with  this 
filth  the  beard  and  face  of  their  newly-chosen 
leader.  In  this  condition  he  was  obliged  —  though 
now  enjoying  the  dignity  of  remaining  covered  be- 
fore the  ujicapped  assembly  —  to  make  a  long 
speech  thanking  his  comrades  for  the  honours  liter- 
ally thrust  upon  him. 


32  THE  COSSACKS 

As  additional  safeguard  to  the  democratic  in- 
stitutions of  the  Zaporogians,  it  was  further  de- 
creed (by  laws  none  the  less  binding  because  only 
part  of  the  unwritten  traditions  of  the  community) 
that  except  during  an  active  campaign  the  kosh- 
ovoy  ataman  should  exercise  no  real  authority  in  the 
sitch.  When,  however,  war  had  once  been  declared, 
even  his  most  despotic  commands  were  implicitly 
obeyed. 

In  ordinary  times  the  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  the  Zaporogian  sitch  lay  in  the  hands  of 
a  council  of  subordinate  atamans  elected  by  the 
different  kourens.  These  were  generally  selected 
from  among  the  most  popular  members  of  the 
community  and  only  kept  themselves  in  office  by  ex- 
ercising arts  of  the  basest  flattery  and  slavish  gen- 
erosity. No  ataman  might  receive  any  pay,  ex- 
cept the  privilege  of  renting  stalls  to  the  Jews  and 
other  traders  venturesome  enough  to  establish 
themselves  among  the  Zaporogians.  Commerce 
was  held  in  so  little  esteem  that  nearly  all  human 
rights  were  denied  these  despised  shopkeepers. 
Any  moment  might  see  their  stock  in  trade  looted 
before  their  eyes,  yet  the  high  prices  which  after 
some  successful  raid  the  Cossacks  were  liable  to 
toss  to  the  "peddlers"  rather  than  demean  them- 
selves by  bargaining,  always  attracted  a  motley 
crowd  of  vendors  willing  to  submit  to  all  the  hu- 
miliations which  might  be  heaped  upon  them  in 
return  for  the  rich  profits  to  be  gained. 


THE   ZAPOROGIAN    COSSACKS  33 

Although  these  periods  of  iron  discipline  and  the 
relaxations  of  ensuing  debauch  were  characteristic 
of  the  life  of  the  sitch^  contemporary  writers  give 
the  Zaporogians  credit  for  certain  homely  virtues. 
They  were  always  honest  with  each  other.  Con- 
victed thieves  were  treated  with  cruel  severity: 
lashed  to  a  post  in  the  centre  of  the  camp,  if  they 
or  their  friends  were  imable  to  make  restitution  at 
the  end  of  a  period  of  three  days,  they  might  be 
beaten  to  death  by  their  victims.  The  murderer 
of  a  comrade  was  chained  to  his  victim's  corpse  and 
buried  alive  in  the  same  grave.  But  besides  these 
cruel  laws  born  of  the  necessities  of  early  times, 
there  grew  up  a  more  civilized  code  based  upon  the 
celebrated  medieval  "Institutes  of  Magdeburg," 
—  regulations  which  were  applied  in  the  merchants' 
quarters  of  the  Polish  towns. 

A  custom  of  the  sitch  doubtless  growing  out  of 
the  dangers  constantly  threatening  the  first  garri- 
sons and  the  state  of  constant  watchfulness  and 
alarm  in  which  they  were  forced  to  live,  has  gained 
no  little  attention  from  contemporary  writers.  This 
was  the  law  rigorously  excluding  women,  under 
pain  of  death,  from  the  community  of  the  Zaporo- 
gians. If  a  Zaporogian  desired  to  take  up  the 
burdens  and  pleasures  of  family  life  he  returned  to 
the  Cossack  settlements,  while  his  name  was  inex- 
orably erased  from  the  rolls  of  the  Free  Company. 
From  the  accounts  of  this  custom  many  ludicrous 
errors  have  arisen.    Some  writers  have  described  the 


34  THE  COSSACKS 

Zaporogians  as  a  kind  of  monkish  militia,  con- 
stantly at  war  with  the  infidels  in  the  defense  of 
Christianity.  Others  have  described  them  as  a  re- 
ligious order  of  chivalry  with  vows  of  chastity  re- 
sembling those  taken  by  the  Knights  of  the  Sword, 
who  ruled  in  Lithuania. 

Although  any  parade  of  piety  seems  strangely 
out  of  place  in  such  a  rough  community,  it  was 
considered  necessary  for  each  new  recruit  to  be- 
long to  the  Orthodox  Greek  religion.  Matters  of 
doctrine,  we  read,  were  the  cause  of  many  bloody 
quarrels  among  them.  Every  year  two  priests  and 
their  attendant  deacons  were  sent  from  a  monastery 
near  Kiev  to  the  encampment  charged  with  cele- 
brating a  daily  mass.  "A  deep  bass  voice  and 
ability  to  drink  a  fair  share  of  Cossack  brandy" 
were,  according  to  Lesur,  considered  part  of  the 
necessary  equipment  for  ministering  to  the  spir- 
itual needs  of  this  strange  parish.  In  the  face  of  the 
fanatical  religious  zeal  of  the  Turks  and  Tartars 
the  Zaporogians  could  hardly  allow  themselves  to 
be  outdone  in  this  respect.  To  the  battle  cry  of 
"Allah!  Allah!"  the  Zaporogians  answered  with  the 
rallying  cry  of  "Jesus!"  On  the  banners  of  these 
strange  crusaders  were  emblazoned  the  symbols  of 
favourite  saints  and  martyrs  of  the  Ukraine.  Their 
feuds  with  the  Turkish  colonies  established  on  the 
Black  Sea,  were  embittered  by  religious  hatred  as 
well  as  love  of  plunder.* 

*  One  of  the  requirements  occasionally  demanded  of 
candidates  desiring  to  enter  tlie  Zaporogian  brotherhood 


THE    ZAPOROGIAN    COSSACKS  35 

In  their  fragile  river  craft  they  set  out  fearlessly 
across  the  Black  Sea  in  reckless  forays  against  the 
Turk:  protecting  the  low  sides  of  their  canoes  in 
stormy  weather  by  mats  made  of  reeds,  or  else  by 
lashing  their  boats  together  to  form  catamarans. 
These  typical  Cossack  boats,  or  cholni,  were  often 
sixty  feet  in  length.  They  were  built  in  shipyards 
hidden  among  the  reedy  islands  of  the  lower 
Dnieper  by  skilful  artisans  held  in  high  respect 
among  Zaporogians.  Often  as  manj'^  as  fifteen 
oars  on  a  side  were  manned  by  Cossack  rowers, 
while  a  small  cannon  was  set  on  a  platform  at  the 
prow.  On  account  of  their  size  and  "handiness" 
the  Cossack  "na^y"  was  capable  of  disconcerting 
manoeu^Tes  unknown  to  Turkish  strategy,  so  that 
even  the  great  war  galleys  of  the  "All-conquering" 
Sultan  Murad  fell  victims  to  their  attack. 

These  exploits,  for  which  enthusiastic  volunteers 
were  never  lacking,  kept  up  the  military  spirit  and 
discipline  of  the  Zaporogians.  Wlienever  a  short 
peace  with  the  Tartars  of  the  Crimea  (the  foe  with 
which  they  were  most  concerned)  permitted  such 
relaxations,  some  chieftain  was  always  ready  to 
lead  an  expedition  against  the  Sultan.  Even  when 
their  allies  were  at  peace  with  the  Porte,  it  was 
impossible  to  prevent  these  raids  on  the  "Land 

was  the  almost  unbelievable  feat  of  paddling  a  canoe  up 
stream  against  the  current  of  certain  formidable  rapids  of 
the  Lower  Dnieper,  still  pointed  out  by  the  local  peas- 
antry. 


36  THE    COSSACKS 

of  the  Infidel."  In  order  to  avoid  unnecessary 
quarrels,  it  was  only  after  returning  to  the  sitch 
that  the  division  of  the  booty  took  place.  On  such 
occasions  the  whole  community  would  indulge  in 
a  huge  masquerade.  Their  usual  rough  and  tat- 
tered garments  were  then  replaced  with  silken 
Turkish  cloaks  and  the  costly  velvet  cloths  of  Da- 
mascus. Rich  damasks  were  ruthlessly  cut  up  to 
make  zippoun,  the  characteristic  trousers  of  por- 
tentous width  affected  by  all  true  Cossacks  of  the 
old  school.  Thus  arrayed  and  with  their  shaggy 
calpacks,  decorated  with  ostrich  feathers  and  jew- 
elled aigrets,  the  Cossacks  would  march  in  proces- 
sion to  pay  their  respects  to  the  neighboring  settle- 
ments, forcing  all  whom  they  met  upon  the  road 
to  drink  with  them  —  Polish  nobles  or  Cossack 
peasants  alike.  "Four  or  five  days  were  spent  in 
drinking,  dancing  and  boastful  discourses.  Every- 
where the  Cossacks  were  accompanied  by  a  rude 
orchestra  and  by  serving  men  bearing  huge  jars  of 
beer,  hydromel  (*)  and  Cossack  brandy.  Thus, 
at  the  end  of  a  few  days  all  the  profits  of  their 
perilous  expeditions  would  be  dissipated."** 
****** 

When  after  the  Cossack  revolution  led  by  Bog- 
dan  Hmielnicki,  the  principal  Cossack  settlements 
of  the  Ukraine  passed  under  the  Russian  rule,  it 

*  This  delicious  sounding  beverage  was  a  fermented 
mixture  of  honey  and  water. 

**  See  Lesur,  op.  cit..  Vol.  I,  page  289. 


THE    ZAPOROGIAN    COSSACKS  37 

became  apparent  (especially  after  the  rise  of  the 
Romanov  dynasty)  that  there  was  no  place  for  such 
an  aggressively  independent  community  as  that  of 
the  Zaporogians  within  the  borders  of  the  Empire 
ruled  by  the  Tsar.  Unlike  the  loosely  held  frontiers 
of  the  Polish  kingdom,  the  Russian  marches  were 
guarded  by  imperial  troops.  Yet  the  remoteness  of 
the  Cossack  settlements  and  the  position  occupied 
by  the  sitch,  preserved  for  a  century  or  more  the 
"national"  pretensions  of  the  Zaporogians.  But 
the  later  history  of  this  warlike  brotherhood  pre- 
sents only  a  series  of  episodes  without  signs  of  po- 
litical development  or  progress.  The  rare  docu- 
ments of  this  period,  preserved  in  the  convents  of 
the  Ukraine,  are  records  of  achievements  startling 
in  their  bravery,  sometimes  chivalrous,  but  often 
base  and  cruel.  The  love  of  personal  freedom,  at  a 
time  when  their  neighbours  were  bound  in  shameful 
subjection,  alone  gives  character  and  unity  to  their 
story. 

An  attempt  will  now  be  made  to  give,  in  the 
language  and  spirit  of  the  original  report  (made 
to  the  Ataman  Dorochenko  by  the  great  Zapor- 
ogian  koshevoy  Sirko),  some  account  of  a  famous 
foray  of  the  "Free  Companions"  against  the 
Crimean  Tartars  and  their  allies.  This  docimient 
may  be  taken  as  a  typical  example  of  the  rare 
"sources"  of  Cossack  histoiy  which  have  survived 
to  the  present  day  —  although  the  golden  days  of 
the  sitch  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century  and 


38  THE  COSSACKS 

the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  were  probably  filled 
with  episodes  similar  to  the  one  described.  The 
author  has  resisted  all  temptation  ( in  the  interest  of 
"historical  truth")  to  tamper  with  the  characteristic 
bombast  which  marks  the  original.  These  rare 
written  records  of  Cossack  days  and  the  joyous 
"diplomatic"  correspondence  which  accompanies 
them  are,  moreover,  of  especial  interest  as  having 
suggested  to  the  great  Russian  historical  painter 
Repnin,  the  subject  for  his  well-known  Cossack 
pictures  in  the  Tretiakov  Galler^^  of  Moscow. 


"It  was  only  when  the  Dnieper  was  filled  with 
floating  ice  floes,  and  the  steppes  covered  with 
soft  snow  that  the  ever-vigilant  Cossack  garrison 
of  the  sitch  could  feel  themselves  in  a  measure  safe 
from  the  attacks  of  their  implacable  enemies,  the 
Tartars  of  the  Crimea.  During  this  season  the 
fast  of  St.  Phillip,  which  occurs  shortly  before 
Christmas,  was  always  strictly  kept  by  the  members 
of  the  orthodox  Zaporogian  brotherhood.  Follow- 
ing this  period  of  abstinence,  if  the  weather  and  the 
conditions  of  the  plains  afforded  their  usual  pro- 
tection, it  was  an  equally  honoured  custom  for  the 
Cossacks  to  indulge  in  a  period  of  feasting  and 
drunkenness." 

In  the  year  1675,  profiting  by  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  their  habits  gained  by  many  years  of  war- 
fare, the  Khan  of  the  Crimea  determined  to  attack 


THE    ZAPOROGIAN    COSSACKS  39 

the  community  of  the  sitch  at  this  time.  Turkish 
troops  had  been  loaned  to  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea 
by  the  Turkish  Sultan  for  reinforcements  and  a 
serious  attempt  was  to  be  made  to  put  an  end  to  the 
depredation  of  the  Cossacks  in  Turkish  territory. 

By  following  the  course  of  the  Dnieper,  yet  re- 
maining at  a  distance  of  several  miles  from  its 
frozen  banks,  the  vigilance  of  the  Cossack  patrols 
was  avoided  and  a  large  force  of  Crimean  Tartars 
and  Turkish  Janissaries  reached  the  neighbourhood 
of  the  Zaporogian  encampment  unnoticed  by  its 
defenders. 

In  judging  of  the  numbers  which  composed  this 
important  expedition,  we  can  only  depend  on  the 
evidence  in  the  Cossack  accounts.  Let  us  then 
state,  once  for  all,  that  (if  the  worthy  Cossack 
pissar  or  clerk  can  be  believed)  "on  one  side  were 
engaged  no  less  than  15,000  Janissaries  or  regular 
Turkish  troops,"  besides  a  "multitude"  of  Tartar 
tribesmen,  while  the  usual  winter  garrison  of  the 
sitch  did  not,  as  a  rule,  exceed  2,000  men. 

On  arriving  at  a  spot  nearly  opposite  the  island 
fortress  occupied  by  the  Zaporogians,  the  "per- 
fidious" Mussulmen  had  the  good  fortune  to  find 
the  entire  Cossack  outpost  guarding  this  important 
point  overcome  by  their  libations  in  honour  of  the 
"Holy  Day"  preceding.  (The  Cossack  historian, 
in  strong  and  convincing  language  here  sets  forth 
the  iniquity  of  an  attack  made  at  such  a  time!!) 
Through  the  "base  advantage"  thus  gained  nearly 


40  THE  COSSACKS 

the  entire  force  of  Janissaries  and  "numerous"  Tar- 
tars were  enabled  actually  to  penetrate  undis- 
covered within  the  narrow  streets  of  the  encamp- 
ment where  they  proceeded  to  sm-round  each  of  the 
kouren,  or  wooden  barracks,  in  which  the  Cossack 
companies  were  housed.  It  was  at  this  juncture 
that  their  presence  was  made  known  to  the  gar- 
rison by  a  Cossack  named  Chefchika  who,  "moved 
by  God"  chanced  to  glance  out  of  a  window  and, 
by  the  light  reflected  from  the  snow,  saw  to  his 
"grim  amazement,"  the  silent  ranks  of  the  enemy 
drawn  up  and  awaiting  the  signal  to  attack. 

His  courage  in  no  way  affected  by  this  sight,  he 
proceeded  quietly  to  awaken  his  sleeping  comi'ades. 
It  was  determined  that  the  best  method  of  meeting 
the  attack  would  be  to  place  at  the  few  available 
windows  the  most  skilful  of  the  Cossack 
marksmen,  while  the  others  should  load  and  pass 
to  them  guns  and  pistols  in  rapid  succession.  This 
system  of  defense  in  which  the  other  hourens  pres- 
ently joined,  was  apparently  so  disconcerting  to 
the  Turkish  troops,  that  when  the  gallant  defenders 
sallied  out  for  a  final  assault  they  found  only  a 
demoralized  mob  of  the  enemy  upon  whom  to 
wreak  their  vengeance. 


Following  the  example  of  the  Cossack  historian 
we  shall  pass  over  the  minor  tactical  details  of  the 
struggle  which  ensued,  confining  ourselves  to  the 


THE    ZAPOROGIAN    COSSACKS  41 

glorious  outcome.  The  results  of  this  indiscreet 
invasion,  according  to  the  chronicler,  was  a  "loss 
of  no  less  than  13,500  men  among  the  Janissaries 
alone,  while  on  the  Cossack  side  a  loss  of  but  fifty 
killed  is  recorded,  besides  eighty  wounded"  (sic). 
The  first  pious  duty  of  the  Cossacks  was  to  bury 
their  own  dead  in  consecrated  ground,  while  the 
wounded  were  given  over  "to  the  care  of  the  barber." 
In  the  meantime  some  two  thousand  cavalrymen 
started  out  in  pursuit  of  the  Khan  of  Crimea,  who, 
on  the  defeat  of  his  Turkish  allies,  had  "fled  like 
a  wolf"  to  his  distant  stronghold.  To  judge  by 
the  account  we  have  quoted,  one  of  the  principal 
"annoyances"  caused  by  this  invasion  was  the 
question  of  how  to  dispose  of  the  numerous  bodies, 
of  slain  Tartars  and  Janissaries,  which  encumbered 
the  streets  of  the  Cossack  encampment.  These, 
after  much  discussion  (recorded  at  even  greater 
length  in  the  original  manuscript  than  the  account 
of  the  actual  fighting  itself)  were  pushed  under  the 
ice  of  the  river  Dnieper  through  holes  laboriously 
cut  for  that  purpose,  whence  they  were  swept  away 
by  the  swift  current. 

The  "facts"  contained  in  the  above  short  sum- 
mary are  at  least  borne  out  by  the  tone  of  the  cor- 
respondence which  ensued  between  the  Zaporogian 
Cossacks  and  the  Turkish  Sultan,  whose  disloyal 
actions  during  a  time  of  peace  had  been  so  signally 
punished.    One  letter  reads  as  follows : 


42  THE  COSSACKS 

*'To  the  Khan  of  Tartary 

Our  Unworthy  Neighbour: 

We,  the  Cossack  troops  of  the  sitch,  would  never 
have  conceived  the  idea  of  entering  upon  this  war 
had  you  not  commenced  hostilities.  You  have  sent 
against  us  (what  treachery!)  not  only  your  savage 
Tartars,  but  also  the  troops  of  that  old  fool,  the 
Sultan.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  intervention  of 
our  constant  friend,  the  great  Lord  Jesus  —  we 
might  all  have  perished  in  our  sleep!  Now,  since 
your  disloyal  ways  have  brought  upon  you  dis- 
aster —  refrain  from  troubling  us.  Otherwise,  we 
will  treat  you  after  our  fashion,  and  that  of  our 
noble  Cossack  ancestors,  by  beating  down  your  own 
gates ! 

We  wish  your  Majesty  a  long  and  prosperous 
reign. 

Signed  by  Ivai^  Sikko, — Koshovoy  Ataman 
{for  the  whole  community)  " 

At  the  same  time  a  letter  was  written  to  the  Sul- 
tan in  Constantinople,  Malimoud  III  —  beginning 
with  a  parody  of  his  imperial  titles  as  set  forth  at 
the  beginning  of  a  letter  admonishing  the  Cossacks 
to  keep  the  peace.  The  epithets  show  a  cunning 
knowledge  of  what  would  be  most  insulting  to  a 
pious  Moslem. 

''Thou  Turkish  Devil: 

Brother   and    Companion   of    Lucifer   himself  I 


THE   ZAPOROGIAN    COSSACKS  4S 

Who  dares  call  himself  Lord  of  the  Christians  — 
but  is  not!  Babylonish  cook  I  Brewer  of  Jeru- 
salem! Goat-keeper  of  the  herds  of  Alexandria! 
Swineherd  of  Great  and  Lesser  Egj^t!  Ar- 
menian Sow  and  Tartar  Goat!  Insolent  Unbe- 
liever! May  the  Devil  Take  you!  The  Cossacks 
refuse  every  demand  and  petition  that  you  now 
make  to  them  —  or  that  you  may  in  future  invent. 
Thank  us  for  condescending  to  answer  you! 

(Signed)  Ivan  Sirko 

and  the  Cossack  troops** 

The  originals  of  the  above  epistles,  which,  for 
obvious  reasons,  have  been  considerably  condensed 
and  modified,  are  to  be  found  in  the  annals  of  Kiev, 
Vol.  II,  pp.  371,  382,  1891.  See  also  a  pamphlet 
published  in  Petrograd  in  1902  by  Professor  I. 
Evarnitzky. 


CHAPTER  III 

YERMAK  AND  THE  COSSACK 
CONQUEST  OF  SIBERIA 

ACCORDING  to  Lesur,  the  French  historian 
(who,  at  Napoleon's  bidding,  wrote  a  careful 
and  erudite  "History  of  the  Cossacks")  it  was  the 
singular  destiny  of  the  Hetman  Yermak  and  his 
Donskoi  followers  to  add  the  immense  empire  of 
Siberia  to  the  Russian  crown,  rather  by  chance  than 
through  any  deliberate  plan  of  discovery  or  con- 
quest. In  the  course  of  an  attempt  to  escape  the 
vengeance  they  had  incurred  by  breaking  the  stern 
peace  declared  along  the  Volga  by  Ivan  the  Ter- 
rible, this  band  of  marauding  Cossacks  were  cut 
off  by  the  Tsar's  forces  from  access  to  the  "Free 
Steppes"  and  obliged  to  ascend  the  course  of  the 
mighty  river  towards  the  unknown  North.  Here 
Yermak  repeated  among  the  aborigines  of  the  Arc- 
tic, exploits  only  comparable  with  the  adventures 
met  with  a  generation  before  by  Pizarro  during  his 
conquest  of  Peru.* 

The  vast  land  known  as  Siberia  covers  nearly 
one-quarter  of  the  habitable  globe.  Until  the  latter 
half  of  the  fifteenth  century  this  great  expanse  of 

*  See  Lesur,  op.  cit.  Vol.  I,  Page  224. 

44 


YERMAK  45 

territory  was  as  unknown  to  Europe  as  the  track- 
less ocean  crossed  by  Columbus.  About  the  time 
that  the  continent  of  America  was  discovered  the 
Russians  first  entered  into  relations  with  what  was 
then  called  the  land  of  "lougra,"  the  wide  "back 
country"  beyond  the  low  chain  of  the  Urals.  Upon 
the  savage  tribes  of  this  borderland  the  free  bur- 
ghers of  "Lord  Novgorod  the  Great"  laid  a 
tribute  of  skins  and  precious  metals.* 

In  an  ill-chosen  moment  —  just  after  the  con- 
quest of  Kazan  (1556)  and  before  Ivan  the  Ter- 
rible had  disbanded  his  victorious  troops  —  a  Si- 
berian prince  named  ladiger  attempted  to  evade 
the  promised  yearly  tax  formerly  paid  to  the  re- 
public of  Novgorod,  whose  liberties  the  Tsars  of 
Moscow  had  trampled  underfoot  but  a  short 
time  before.  The  loss  of  the  tribute,  paid  by  the 
thirty  thousand  subjects  of  the  Siberian  princeling, 
—  which  had  been  set  at  a  "marten  skin  per  inhabi- 
tant," —  directed  the  attention  of  the  redoubtable 
Tsar  towards  the  resources  of  the  vast  unknown 
territories  to  the  eastward  of  his  empire. 

In  the  district  of  Oustioug,  north  of  Viatka,  a 
family  of  Russian  hoyars  of  Tartar  origin,  the 
Stroganovs,  had  for  several  generations  exploited 
salt  and  iron  mines.  Although  belonging  to  the 
merchant  class,  an  exception  seems  to  have  been 
made  in  their  favour  from  the  rigid  policy  of  cen- 

*  WaliszewskI,  op.  cit.,  p.  469.  See  also  "Siberia,"  b}' 
M.  P.  Price. 


46  THE  COSSACKS 

tralization  adopted  by  the  princes  of  Moscow.  The 
Stroganovs  not  only  exercised  "the  rights  of  High 
Justice  and  Low,"  but  were  also  allowed  to  main- 
tain an  armed  force,  on  a  footing  which  prepared 
them  either  for  trade  or  war  with  the  neighbouring 
Siberian  chieftains.  Their  venture  appears  to  have 
prospered,  for,  in  1558,  Anakievitch  Stroganov 
(according  to  records  preserved  in  Moscow),  pe- 
titioned Ivan  the  Terrible  for  a  "further  concession 
of  106  square  versts  on  the  shores  of  the  Kama" 
where  he  proposed  "to  erect  a  fort  against  the 
Tartars."* 

*  In  October  1915  the  author  had  occasion  to  visit 
the  town  of  "Veliki  Oustioug,  the  old  capital  of  the  country 
ruled  by  the  Stroganovs.  This  place,  once  so  remote, 
could  then  be  reached,  without  hardship,  by  following 
the  new  railroad  connecting  the  town  of  Kotlas  with  the 
Trans-Siberian  Line.  This  town  (almost  as  ancient  as 
Veliki  Oustioug)  at  the  outbreak  of  the  World  War  en- 
joyed great,  if  ephemeral,  prosperity  on  account  of  the 
heavy  river  traffic  which  grew  up  along  the  northern 
Dvina.  Here  it  is  necessary  for  the  traveller  to  change 
to  a  river  steamer  which,  after  fighting  the  slow  current 
of  the  Oustioug  River  for  a  day  and  a  night,  finally  lands 
its  passengers  at  the  ancient  border  city,  whence  Yermak 
set  forth  on  his  conquest  of  Siberia. 

The  first  view  of  Veliki-Oustioug  —  the  pious  silhouette 
of  the  town's  thirty  or  more  great  churches  and  convents 
suddenly  breaking  the  monotonous  sky  line  of  stunted 
fir  trees  which  for  miles  border  the  almost  uninhabited 
shores  of  the  river  —  presents  an  interesting  and  unfore- 
seen incident  in  the  journey.     For  every   score  of  the 


YERMAK  47 

At  this  place  in  the  year  1579  a  band  of  640 
Cossacks  suddenly  appeared  desiring  to  be  en- 
rolled in  the  private  army  of  the  Stroganovs. 
These  adventurers  were  under  the  double  leader- 
ship of  a  Cossack  named  Ivan  Koltso  (who,  accord- 
cording  to  some  authorities,  had  not  long  before 
been  condenmed  to  ignominous  death  by  the  Tsar's 
orders),  and  a  hardly  more  reputable  hetman 
named  Yermak.  The  name  of  the  latter,  preserved 
in  stirring  popular  ballads  and  bylines^  was  later 
to  typify  the  pioneering  and  imperialistic  genius 
of  the  Russian  race.  Whether  the  legendary  ex- 
ploits of  this  illustrious  brigand  represent  the  ac- 
tual historj''  of  an  individual,  or  whether,  as  some 
Russian  historians  maintain,  we  have  in  Yermak 
one  of  those  composite  heroes  to  the  making  of 
whose  reputation  the  fame  of  half  a  score  of  lesser 
pioneers  has  been  sacrificed,  is  a  fact  impossible  to 
verify  at  the  present  day. 

Aside  from  their  sudden  and  suspicious  appear- 
ance in  the  district  administered  by  the  Stroganovs, 

present  inhabitants  of  "Oustioug  the  Great"  there  exists 
at  least  one  spacious  church  or  monastery !  Local  tra- 
dition declares  that  most  of  these  structures  —  erected 
by  adventurers  returning  from  the  Siberian  trail  as  a 
thank  offering  for  the  dangers  they  had  escaped  —  rep- 
resent not  so  much  the  piety  of  their  builders  as  the  pru- 
dent expiation  of  the  sins  committed  in  the  mysterious 
beyond :  the  cleansing,  as  it  were,  of  conscience  and  for- 
tune before  their  builders  resumed  the  humdrum  life  of 
Holy  Russia. 


48  THE  COSSACKS 

all  that  was  known  of  Yermak  and  his  Cossack 
companions  can  hardly  have  induced  these  pros- 
perous merchants  to  invite  the  newcomers  to  re- 
main longer  than  necessary  in  the  vicinity  of  their 
warehouses  filled  with  stores  of  precious  furs  and 
metals.  During  the  dark  winter  months  following 
their  arrival,  the  merchants  appear  to  have  urged 
upon  their  guests  the  glorious  advantages  to  be 
gained  by  a  campaign  against  the  forest  tribes, 
whose  villages  and  hunting  grounds  lay  just  be- 
yond this  frontier  station.  In  proof  of  these  state- 
ments they  showed  the  eager  Cossacks  nuggets  of 
placer  gold  and  specimens  of  those  strangely  col- 
oured, semi-precious  minerals  of  the  Urals  which 
even  modern  geologists  are  often  at  a  loss  to  value 
or  classify.  Among  the  Voguls,  Ostiaks  and  other 
peoples  of  Finnish  origin  against  whom  the  Strog- 
anovs  had  for  generations  carried  on  their  inde- 
cisive forays,  the  Cossacks  were  assured  that  gold 
was  "hardly  prized  at  all."  Other  booty,  it  was 
urged,  such  as  furs  and  mastodon  ivory,  might  read- 
ily be  captured  from  such  cowardly  and  ill-armed 
forces.  It  is,  moreover,  probable  that  the  Cossack 
leaders  (at  least  one  of  whom  still  felt  a  noose 
tickling  his  neck)  were  only  too  glad  of  an  excuse 
to  put  further  leagues  of  wilderness  between  the 
avenging  troops  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  and  their  own 
guilty  persons. 

Unknown  to  Yermak  at  this  time,  his  most  heroic 
contest  was  to  be  waged  with  the  natural  diffi- 


YERMAK  49 

culties  of  the  wilderness.  Such  a  struggle  was  less 
suitable,  perhaps,  for  the  poetic  treatment  of  the 
bylines  than  his  battles  with  the  aborigines.  But 
any  traveller  who  has  had  occasion  to  visit  the 
country  lying  about  the  Urals  will  find,  in 
the  Cossack  leader's  persistent  courage  as  an 
explorer,  a  subject  of  admiration  which  will 
out-rival  his  military  achievements.  The  native 
tribes  they  first  encountered  —  unlike  the  more 
warlike  subjects  of  the  Tartar  princes  further  to 
the  southward  —  could  not  oppose  any  formidable 
resistance  to  the  better  armed  Cossacks.  Like 
the  scattered  remnants  of  their  descendants 
who  survive  to  the  present  day,  the  Voguls  and 
Ostiaks  lived  in  family  groups  dispersed  in  the 
deepest  recesses  of  the  forest.  They  were  small  of 
stature,  cowardly  and  anxious  to  live  at  peace  with 
their  neighbours.  In  addition  to  the  real  dangers 
of  the  wilderness  they  inhabited,  a  thousand  other 
foolish  terrors  assailed  them  through  their  super- 
stitious belief  in  forest  demons,  wood  sprites  and 
other  fantastic  creatures,  whom  they  propitiated  by 
a  system  of  complicated  idolatrous  rites.  These 
beliefs  forming  their  only  religion  led  them  to  look 
upon  their  chiefs  or  medicine  men  with  uncanny 
reverence. 

Skilful  hunters  and  trappers  —  so  that  their 
filthy  bodies  were  covered  with  the  rare  furs  of 
mink,  otter  and  royal  ermine  —  their  only  weapons 
of  defense  were  bows  and  arrows.    Against  such  ad- 


60  THE  COSSACKS 

versaries  the  firearms  of  the  Cossacks,  like  those 
carried  by  the  conquistador es  of  Peru,  were  quick  to 
establish  a  terrible  superiority.* 

The  ahnost  impenetrable  forest  through  which 
Yermak  and  his  followers  were  forced  step  by  step, 
to  cut  their  way,  the  swollen  streams  dashing 
towards  the  Arctic  Sea,  across  which  they  were 
obliged  to  pass,  and  the  deep  ravines  filled  with 
chevaiLV  de  f rises  of  fallen  timber,  were  the  difficul- 
ties which  at  first  combined  —  rather  than  the  feeble 
though  growing  resistance  of  the  native  tribes  —  to 

*  On  a  journey  through  the  great  northern  forest 
belt  of  Russia  referred  to  in  a  previous  footnote,  the 
author  encountered  at  every  station  along  the  new  rail- 
way the  descendants  of  these  tribes,  the  "Mordvins" 
and  "Tchouds"  of  the  present  day.  These  strange  wood- 
land creatures  —  flat-faced,  slant-eyed,  with  colourless 
whity-blond  complexions  —  present  many  notable  dif- 
ferences from  the  more  robust  Russian  moujiks.  It  is 
interesting,  however,  to  note  the  physical  characteristics 
wliich  this  inferior  stock  have  transmitted  to  the  Slav  race. 
The  influence  of  Russian  civiHzation  is,  however,  fast 
spreading  to  these  isolated  districts.  The  men  generally 
wear  the  outdoor  dress  of  the  Russian  lower  classes.  The 
women,  the  conservative  force  in  every  community, 
still  affect  the  ancient  tribal  costumes:  coarse-woven 
gay-coloured  shawls  covering  homespun  smocks  or 
long  shirts.  Wherever  concessions  have  been  made  to 
modern  "style,"  all,  as  though  by  common  consent,  wear 
town-made  material  of  the  same  bright  pattern  and 
colours,  clearly  exhibiting  the  transition  from  tribal  cos- 
tume to  individual  dress. 


YERMAK  51 

impede  the  eastward  march  of  the  Cossacks.  In- 
deed the  short  northern  summer  was  wholly  passed 
in  contending  with  these  natural  obstacles,  and 
Yermak  realized  the  necessity  of  returning  once 
more  to  his  winter  quarters  with  the  Stroganovs. 
To  the  latter  this  second  winter's  visit  must  have 
been  even  less  welcome  than  the  first.  Nor  did  the 
diplomatic  merchants  cease  their  efforts  to  en- 
courage the  Cossacks  to  persist  in  their  adventure 
of  looking  for  a  practicable  pathway  toward  the 
unknown  riches  in  the  "beyond." 

When  the  second  slow-coming  springtime  had 
arrived  Yermak  had  succeeded  in  enforcing  a 
system  of  rigid  military  discipline  among  his  un- 
ruly followers.  Attempts  at  desertion,  or  diso- 
bedience of  orders  were  punished  by  cruel  pen- 
alties. According  to  Lesur,  the  crime  of  blas- 
phemy was  one  of  those  most  pitilessly  forbidden. 
By  Yermak's  orders  a  portable  altar  with  an  ikon 
of  St.  Nicholas  "the  Wonder- Worker"  was  con- 
structed to  accompany  the  little  army  during  its 
second  expedition  and  before  the  Holy  Ikons  a 
renegade  monk,  assisted  by  two  unfrocked  priests, 
regularly  celebrated  a  forest  mass  on  Sundays  and 
Holy  Days. 

The  delays  of  the  second  winter  also  enabled  the 
Cossacks  to  fit  themselves  out  with  a  little  train  of 
portable  artillery  whose  strange  thunders  (and  the 
terrifying  clouds  of  thick  smoke  given  off  by  the 
coarse  gunpowder  manufactured  by  the   Strog- 


52  THE  COSSACKS 

anovs)  doubled  its  effectiveness  against  the  savage 
enemy. 

The  Stroganovs,  by  exciting  the  cupidity  and 
ambition  of  the  Cossacks  simphfied  the  task  of  their 
leader.  Tales  of  the  riches  awaiting  them,  once 
the  forest-guarded  mountain  chain  of  the  Urals 
could  be  crossed,  were  eagerly  listened  to  during 
the  long  winter  nights  of  enforced  idleness.  Thus, 
from  an  undisciplined  band  of  brigands  and 
ruffians  Yermak's  genius  for  leadership  welded  a 
small  but  highly  tempered  little  army  capable  of 
resisting  the  hardships  they  were  to  encounter  for 
the  second  time. 

Yet  the  end  of  a  second  summer's  campaign 
found  Yermak  only  a  little  farther  advanced  than 
at  the  end  of  the  previous  year.  On  the  banks  of 
the  Ka  or  Silver  River  (a  stream  which  has  since 
become  famous  for  its  fisheries)  he  decided  to  pass 
the  winter  in  an  entrenched  camp.  This  enabled 
him,  in  spite  of  terrible  sufferings  from  the  cold,  to 
push  on  with  the  first  signs  of  spring,  his  route 
following  the  course  of  the  river  Toura. 

Until  this  point  had  been  reached  the  principal 
difficulties  met  with  on  Yermak's  line  of  march 
were  the  natural  obstacles  and  the  problem 
of  obtaining  provisions.  But  the  expedition  now 
found  itself  confronted  by  more  valiant  enemies. 
The  Tartar  and  Tartar-led  tribes  along  the  shores 
of  the  stream  they  were  obliged  to  follow  offered 
a  stubborn  and  unexpected  resistance.    The  whole 


YERMAK  53 

summer  was  consumed  in  bitter  skirmishes  with  this 
new  enemy  (1580). 

The  third  long  northern  winter  was  passed  in 
the  little  town  of  Tchingis,  near  the  modern  city 
of  Tioumen.  The  Tartar  inhabitants  of  this  place 
had  amassed  a  considerable  store  of  grain,  and  pos- 
sessed besides,  flocks  of  sheep  and  cattle,  so  that 
for  the  Cossacks  the  winter  passed  pleasantly 
enough.  Spring  found  them  descending  the  swollen 
Toura  (seekiug  to  gain  the  course  of  a  stream  now 
recognized  as  the  Tobol,  whose  waters  were  re- 
ported to  be  navigable)  and  here  Yermak  and  his 
followers  encountered  for  the  first  time  an  army 
formidable  in  numbers  and  equipment.  No  less 
than  six  confederated  Tartar  chieftains  gathering 
their  subject  Vogul  and  Ostiak  tribesmen,  awaited 
the  coming  of  the  Cossacks  in  an  easily  defendable 
pass.  Fortunately  the  latter  were  now  able  to 
build  and  launch  upon  the  lower  Toura  the  "long 
boats"  which  many  of  their  number  had  learned  to 
manoeuvre  with  skill  among  the  rocks  and  rapids 
of  the  Dneiper. 

The  forces  of  the  enemy,  defending  every  rocky 
pass  and  difficult  portage,  though  again  and  again 
dispersed,  returned  with  fresh  re-enforcements  to 
dispute  the  way.  The  more  faint-hearted  among 
the  Cossacks  even  began  to  talk  of  returning  to 
Russia.  But  Yermak  could  now  aiford  to  peer  at 
the  protests  of  these  malcontents.  The  intrepid 
leader  at  last  possessed  an  unanswerable  argument: 


54  THE  COSSACKS 

pointing  out  the  impossibility  of  returning  against 
the  current  of  the  long  rapids  that  lay  behind  them. 
In  their  dismal  councils  even  the  mutineers  decided 
that  the  only  safety  lay  in  pressing  forward  towards 
the  unknown.* 

We  now  come  to  an  incident  in  Yermak's  voyage 
made  famous  by  the  Russian  ballad  singers  —  the 
telling  of  which  never  fails  to  draw  a  shout  of 
laughter  from  their  hearers.  In  the  peasant  izbas 
of  the  North  or  the  Cossack  villages  of  the  Ukraine, 
the  cleverly  planned  ruse  invented  by  the  hero 
Yermak  to  disengage  his  men  from  the  ambuscade 
laid  by  the  Tartars  and  Voguls  is  always  a  favour- 
ite incident  of  folk-history.  At  a  place  where  the 
little  Cossack  army  was  forced  to  pass  through  a 
long  fall  of  rapids  (a  point  where  the  Tobol  rushes 
between  high  narrow  banks )  the  Tartars  had  raised 
a  barrier  of  rocks  and  logs  "clamped  together  with 
iron  chains,"  meanwhile  entrenching  themselves  on 
the  overhanging  cliffs  along  the  shore.  With  their 
little  flotilla  rushing  headlong  towards  this  well-laid 
trap,  Yermak  and  his  men  learned  of  its  existence  in 
the  nick  of  time.  Some  urged  the  leader  to 
abandon  the  boats  —  built  with  so  much  toil  and 
indispensable  for  the  further  success  of  their 
journey  —  and  by  proceeding  across  country  to 

*  Compare  the  story  told  by  the  Russian  hylines  with 
the  similar  adventures  recounted  in  the  clironicle  of  Gon- 
zalo  Pizarro  and  Orellano  in  their  voyage  down  the 
Amazon  from  Quito. 


YERMAK  55 

avoid  the  Tartar  entrenchments.  But  the  mas- 
ter-cunning of  Yermak  was  equal  to  the  occa- 
sion. By  his  orders  short  lengths  of  logs  were 
cut  and  set  up  in  the  "long  boats."  These  he 
draped  with  the  tattered  uniforms  of  his  fol- 
lowers, while  each  scarecrow  figure,  surmounted 
with  a  shaggy  Cossack  calpack,  was  provided  with 
a  long  sapling  to  simulate  the  Cossack  pikes.  Upon 
these  dummy  warriors,  steering  down  upon  them 
during  the  evening  dusk,  —  each  boat  guided  by 
one  brave  volunteer  —  the  Tartar  hordes  loosed 
the  fury  of  their  bows  and  arrows.  What  must 
have  been  their  dismay  to  find  themselves  in  turn 
surprised  and  overwhelmed  by  a  new  army  —  the 
nearly  naked  forces  of  Yermak,  who,  creeping 
cautiously  through  the  bushes  attacked  them 
fiercely  from  the  flank  and  rear.* 

Soon  after  this  event  news  was  brought  to  Yer- 
mak that  near  Karatchin,  a  little  town  not  far 
from  the  river  Ob,  a  Tartar  prince  had  gathered 
and  hidden  a  "great  treasm-e"  which  included,  be- 
sides a  store  of  native  placer  gold  and  precious 
stones,  a  part  of  the  spoil  captured  by  the  soldiers 
of  Genghis  Khan.  ( These  were  treasures,  which  the 
soldiers  of  the  great  Asiatic  conqueror  were  carry- 
ing back  with  them  to  Tartary,  when,  as  the  chron- 
iclers state  "they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  even 
more    barbarous    Voguls.")      Yermak    now    har- 

*  Fisher's  "Histoire  de  Siberie,"  quoted  by  Lesur,  op. 
cit.,  vol.  I,  page  240. 


66  THE  COSSACKS 

angued  his  followers  concerning  the  merit  to  be 
obtained  in  recovering  from  the  heathen  these 
sacred  vessels  of  gold  and  silver  robbed  from  the 
churches  and  monasteries  of  Holy  Russia. 

Decided  by  Yermak's  persuasions  to  turn  aside 
from  their  journey  in  order  to  undertake  this  pious 
adventure,  the  conquest  proved  an  easy  one  for 
the  Cossacks.  But  the  added  weight  of  their  spoil 
nearly  proved  the  undoing  of  these  strange 
crusaders.  Again,  in  reading  the  story  of  Yermak's 
exploits  we  are  reminded  of  the  conquistadores 
Pizarro  and  Alvarado  in  the  bleak  Andean  high- 
lands, who  although  starving,  clung  to  the  golden 
spoils  of  the  Peruvian  Incas  until  they  fell  ex- 
hausted by  the  way.  But  the  courage  of  the  Cos- 
sack army  was  now  strengthened  by  tangible 
proofs  that  this  bleak  wilderness  actually  concealed 
riches  and  booty  —  a  tithe  at  least  of  that  promised 
them  by  the  Stroganovs. 

In  their  retreat  the  Tartars  had  diligently  swept 
the  entire  countryside  bare  of  provisions,  but  Yer- 
mak  meets  each  new  danger  with  another  ruse :  the 
solemn  Fast  of  the  Assumption  being  at  hand,  in- 
stead of  the  fourteen  days  of  fasting  prescribed  by 
the  Russian  ritual,  the  resourceful  Cossack  leader 
declares  a  "fast  of  repentance"  lasting  forty  days. 
Thus  even  the  cruel  hunger  tearing  at  their  vitals 
renewed  —  through  their  mystical  faith  —  the 
strength  of  his  little  army.  No  less  sustaining, 
perhaps,  was  the  hope  of  yet  richer  spoils  through 


YERMAK  67 

the  sack  of  the  Tartar  cities  which  they  knew  lay 

just  beyond. 

****** 

Ever  true  to  the  unities  of  a  great  epic  the  crisis 
of  our  chronicle  now  approaches.  The  Kalmouck 
Prince  Koutzum,  of  the  imperial  Tartar  house  of 
Timour  Mangou  Khan,  at  this  time  ruled  over  all 
the  country  between  the  river  Ob  and  the  Urals. 
To  his  exalted  leadership  even  the  rebellious 
Samoyeds,  Voguls  and  Ostiaks  now  submitted  in 
the  face  of  the  common  danger.  His  woodland 
capital,  protected  by  staked  palisades  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  deep  moat,  was  established  at  a  place 
called  Ishir,  which,  as  the  ballad-chronicle  states, 
"the  Europeans  called  Sibir."  The  site  of  this 
forest  metropolis  (which  may  have  given  its  name 
to  the  whole  vast  territory  of  Siberia)  was  not  far 
from  the  present  city  of  Tobolsk.  Here  was  to 
occur  the  inevitable  meeting  of  those  whom  the  by- 
lines call  the  "lords  of  the  future  and  of  the  past." 

The  battle,  long  expected  and  apparently 
equally  dreaded  by  both  sides,  was  decided  in 
favour  of  the  Cossacks  by  a  curious  incident.  A 
Russian  cannon  which  during  some  foray  with  the 
Tartars  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  forest 
tribesmen,  had  for  generations  been  revered  as 
a  redoubtable  fetish  by  the  Voguls.  Dragging  this 
silent  weapon  with  them  to  the  battle  field,  the 
savages  confidently  turned  it  upon  the  attack  of 
Yermak's  little  army  —  which  was  advancing  upon 


58  THE  COSSACKS 

them  in  a  dense  mass,  the  thunderbolts  of  the 
dreaded  firearms  playing  like  lightning  along  its 
front.  But  heedless  of  the  incantations  of  the 
shamans  the  weapon  in  which  the  Voguls  had 
placed  their  hopes  remained  obstinately  silent. 
Their  fatuous  belief  in  its  magical  powers  had  led 
them  to  expect  their  ordinance  to  vomit  destruction 
of  its  own  accord  upon  their  enemies !  Thus  betrayed 
in  their  dearest  hopes  they  turned  and  fled  into  their 
impenetrable  forests  —  leaving  their  Tartar  allies 
to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  Cossack  charge. 

Terribly  reduced  in  numbers,  the  Cossack  forces 
probably  consisted  at  this  time  of  but  little  more 
than  three  hundred  men,  while  aside  from  the  un- 
dependable  woodlanders,  the  Tartar-trained  war- 
riors among  the  enemy  were  hardly  more  numerous. 
It  would  thus  appear  that  the  fate  of  the  great 
Siberian  empire  hung  on  the  fortunes  of  what 
was  little  more  than  a  woodland  skirmish ! 

This  decisive  victory,  won  over  the  aclaiowledged 
chief  of  the  Trans-Ural,  and  the  valuable  spoil 
gained  in  the  encounter,  encouraged  Yermak  to 
take  a  momentous  step.  He  now  decided  to  enter 
into  negotiations  with  the  distant  court  of  Ivan  the 
Terrible,  and  to  secure  a  pardon  from  his  sover- 
eign if  possible  for  all  past  misdeeds.  That 
Yermak  (who  had  now  advanced  into  an  un- 
known country  beyond  the  reach  of  the  Tsar's 
justice,  and  occupied  a  position  comparable  to  that 
of  an  independent  prince)   should  thus  trembling 


YERMAK  59 

seek  to  make  his  peace  with  the  distant  ruler  in 
Moscow,  is  a  sign  of  the  great  progress  towards^ 
national  unity  which  Russia  had  made  under  the 
stern  rule  of  the  Tsar  Vasili  and  his  successor. 
The  spectacle  of  a  Spanish  hidalgo,  all  powerful 
in  liis  colonial  realm,  ordering  himself  home  to 
execution  or  to  await  the  pleasure  of  his  king,  had 
already  been  noted  on  more  than  one  occasion  in 
the  chronicles  of  Spanish-America.  In  Russia, 
however,  such  conduct  is  the  mark  of  a  new  era. 

But  even  in  making  his  doubtful  peace  with  Ivan, 
Yermak  was  cautious.  Either  doubtful  of  his 
own  reception,  or  anxious  to  maintain  his  recent 
conquests,  he  ordered  his  heutenant,  Koltso  (who 
apparently  now  occupied  a  wholly  subordinate  po- 
sition) to  undertake  this  task.  A  condemned 
criminal,  with  a  price  upon  his  head,  thus  became 
the  messenger  chosen  to  announce  to  Ivan  that  a 
vast  new  territory,  which  Cossack  courage  had  con- 
quered, had  been  added  to  his  empire. 

Here,  again,  the  poetic  version  of  the  folksongs 
wliich  have  built  up  the  popular  legend  of  Yermak, 
and  the  records  of  history  are  wholly  in  accord. 
Ivan,  after  listening  with  interest  to  the  tale  of 
Yermak' s  adventures,  readily  forgave  Koltso  and 
his  companions.  Graciously  accepting  the  "sixty 
sacks  of  precious  furs"  (which  the  Cossack  artfully 
represented  were  but  the  first  tribute  of  a  con- 
quered nation)  he  promised  to  take  Siberia  under 
his  "protection."    In  return,  Koltso  was  charged  to 


60  THE  COSSACKS 

deliver  to  Yermak,  besides  the  cloak  which  the 
Tsar  wore  upon  his  own  august  shoulders,  a  mag- 
nificent cuirass,  destined  to  play  a  fatal  role  in  the 
fast  approaching  climax  of  Yermak's  legendary- 
career. 

An  even  more  acceptable  favour  was  the  prompt 
dispatch  of  five  hundred  troops  from  Ivan's  new 
army  who  were  sent  to  reinforce  Yermak's  de- 
pleted forces.  These  were  placed  under  the  tem- 
porary command  of  Prince  Volkowski,  a  dvorianin, 
or  courtier  from  the  imperial  court.  As  a  further 
honour,  "they  were  enrolled  under  the  title  of  Cos- 
sacks, heretofore  no  very  complimentary  appella- 
tion in  the  eyes  of  constituted  Russian  authority." 
Moreover,  the  supreme  command  of  the  expedition 
appears  to  have  remained  in  Yermak's  hands  in 
spite  of  the  presence  of  the  imperial  representative. 

But  the  long  epic  of  Yermak's  adventures  now 
nears  its  close.  The  winter  following  the  safe  re- 
turn from  Moscow  of  Koltso  accompanied  by  the 
Russian  voevod,  had  been  a  disastrous  one  for  the 
Cossacks.  The  supply  of  food  upon  which  the  ex- 
pedition depended  for  the  cold  season  was  ex- 
hausted long  before  spring,  perhaps  through  the 
unexpected  arrival  of  new  reinforcements.*  Much 
valuable  provender  had  been  burned  or  wasted  in 
brutal  unnecessary  forays  against  the  villages  of 

*  Lesur,  page  257. 


YERMAK  61 

the  forest  tribesmen.  Even  the  flight  of  the  latter 
was  fatal  to  their  conquerors.  The  Voguls  and 
Ostiaks  possessed  secrets  and  "charms"  unknown 
to  the  Cossacks  for  capturing  the  winter  game  and 
for  fishing  during  the  season  when  the  ice  upon  the 
rivers  was  too  thick  to  cut  through.  Thus, 
through  their  own  misdeeds  famine  and  a  great 
pestilence  broke  out  among  the  Cossacks.  Among 
the  first  to  succumb  was  the  dvorianin,  the  imperial 
courtier  commanding  Ivan's  troops. 

Learning  of  these  misfortunes  the  enemy  now 
began  to  gather  in  formidable  numbers  and  often 
boldly  attacked  the  Cossack  camp.  Koltso,  Yer- 
mak's  fellow  leader,  was  ambushed  and  slain  dur- 
ing a  foray  in  search  of  provisions. 

Following  this  series  of  disasters  the  welcome 
news  was  brought  to  Yermak  that  a  caravan 
of  Bokhariot  merchants  had  arrived  from  Central 
Asia  to  trade  with  the  new  Russian  outposts.  This 
important  mission,  it  was  reported,  had  been  halted 
through  fear  of  meeting  Koutzum's  Tartar  soldiers 
on  the  shores  of  the  Vagai,  an  affluent  of  the 
Irtish.  The  Cossacks  now  decided  to  go  boldly 
forth  to  protect  the  march  of  the  caravan  towards 
their  camp.  Too  late  they  learned  that  they  had 
been  made  the  victims  of  a  Tartar  ruse.  Yermak 
and  his  men,  surrounded  on  all  sides  in  a  woodland 
ambush,  took  refuge  on  an  island  in  the  Irtish. 
Here,  while  the  whole  camp  slept  exhausted  by  the 
privations  of  their  march,  they  were  surprised  by 


62  THE  COSSACKS 

the  enemy.  Yermak,  at  the  head  of  a  trusted  hand- 
ful of  his  followers,  cut  his  way  with  little  difficulty 
through  the  ranks  of  the  enemy,  who  no  longer 
dared  to  meet  the  hero  face  to  face.  Then,  while 
making  good  his  retreat,  a  false  step  threw  the 
Cossack  leader  into  the  swift,  deep  current  of  the 
stream.  The  weight  of  his  rich  cuirass,  the  fatal 
gift  of  the  Tsar,  from  which,  with  superstitious 
reverence,  he  never  had  separated  himself,  pinned 
him  among  the  stones  at  the  bottom  of  the  river. 

The  Apotheosis:  Here  the  sober  thread  of  prob- 
ability in  the  narrative  of  Yermak  becomes  almost 
lost  in  the  bright  legends  which  the  bylines  have 
woven  about  the  hero's  end. 

"The  Tartars,  recognizing  the  body  of  the  chief- 
tain by  the  great  golden  eagle  emblazoned  on  his 
armor,  hung  the  corpse  upon  a  framework  of  poles, 
and  for  six  weeks  made  it  a  target  for  their  archers. 
Yet  even  the  carrion  birds  of  prey,  wheeling  in  the 
dark  clouds  about  the  hero's  head,  respected  the 
august  remains  —  a  terrifying  and  prodigious 
proof  to  the  Mussulmen  that  the  dead  leader  was 
of  no  common  clay!  At  night  a  cloud  of  baleful 
fire  flickered  about  his  head  .  .  .,"  and  this 
although  no  odor  of  putrefaction  arose  from  the 
body!"  The  Tartars,  persuaded  by  these  omens, 
decided  to  bury  the  remains  of  Yermak  with  all 
the  ceremony  due  to  one  of  their  own  heroes.  His 
grave,  for  many  generations,  became  the  resort  of 
the    Tartar    magicians    and    of    the    shamans    or 


YERMAK  63 

"Medicine-men"  who  were  most  honoured  among 
the  Voguls  and  Ostiaks. ..."  Thus  bereft  in  turn 
of  their  three  leaders,  the  Cossack  expedition  re- 
turned in  disorder  to  the  Russian  outposts.  For 
a  time  the  conquests  that  Yermak  had  made  with 
so  much  courage  and  persistence  were  abandoned. 
But  his  discoveries  and  example  had  not  been  in 
vain.  The  legend  of  the  Cossack  hero  —  an  epic 
of  empire  —  remained  to  stir  the  Cossack  spirit  to 
new  adventures.  It  was  largely  through  Cossack 
exploration  and  settlement  that  the  vast  land  of 
Siberia  was  made  known  to  Europe  during  the  two 
succeeding  centuries. 

In  a  recent  work  by  Prof.  Golder,  the  eminent 
American  authority  on  the  history  of  Alaska,  the 
story  of  the  discovery  of  and  explorations  in 
Eastern  Siberia  and  the  Western  coast  of  America 
by  Yermak's  successors  is  told  in  fascinating  detail. 

Upon  his  deathbed  Peter  the  Great  continually 
asked  for  news  of  a  Cossack  expedition  which,  un- 
der his  orders,  had  been  sent  out  to  solve  the  mys- 
tery of  a  greatly  desired  "possible  isthmus"  which 
he  thought  must  join  the  continents  of  Asia 
and  the  Americas.  An  extract  from  the  directions 
personally  addressed  by  the  Tsar  to  the  leaders  of 
this  quest  shows  what  degree  of  pioneering  work 
was  expected,  even  in  1719,  of  Cossack  enterprise. 

"You  are  to  proceed  to  Kamchatka,  as  you  have 
been  ordered,   and  determine  whether  Asia   and 


64.  THE  COSSACKS 

America  are  united,  and  go  not  only  North  and 
Souths  but  East  and  West,  putting  in  a  chart  all 
that  you  see."  (See  Golder's  "Russian  Expansion 
in  the  Pacific,"  p.  114,  etc.) 

If  the  tossing  waters  of  Behring  Strait  had  not 
stopped  the  long  ride  of  the  Cossack  pioneers,  the 
western  coast  of  North  America  might  have  been 
added  to  the  Tsar's  empire  before  Anglo- 
Saxon  explorers  could  have  gained  a  foothold 
there.  A  Cossack  captain  was  the  first  white  man 
to  set  foot  upon  the  coast  of  Alaska  —  thus  linking 
the  history  of  our  great  Eastern  neighbor  Siberia 
with  our  own.  And,  while  Cossack  troopers  were 
fighting  to  hold  a  great  continent  for  Civiliza- 
tion—  as  against  Bolshevik  "frightfulness"  and 
misrule  —  in  the  Siberian  capital  at  Omsk  the  re- 
puted saints-day  of  Yermak  the  Discoverer  was 
solemnly  recalled  by  a  parade  and  review  of  the 
armies  of  Free  Russia  before  his  statue  at  the  door 
of  the  great  Cathedral. 


CHAPTER  IV 

BOGDAN  HMELNICKY;  A  COSSACK 
NATIONAL  HERO 

THE  magic  call  of  free  land  had  slowly  re- 
peopled  the  devastated  steppes  of  the  Ukraine 
following  the  withdrawal  of  the  Tartar  invasion. 
Little  did  the  first  hardy  Cossack  pioneers,  who 
built  their  homesteads  in  this  "smiling  wilderness" 
know  or  care  that  by  this  act  they  subjected  them- 
selves to  the  feudal  claims  of  former  Polish  and 
Lithuanian  overlords.  Too  feeble  to  make  good 
their  pretensions  against  the  Tartars,  these  nobles 
now  sought  to  exercise  their  "rights"  over  the  new- 
comers. But  until  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  some  acknowledged  leader  had  been  lack- 
ing among  the  Cossack  chieftains.  Until  this  time 
the  very  name  of  Cossack  had  indicated  a  "master- 
less"  man,  differentiating  their  race  from  the 
Russian  peasant  class  who  had  long  since  bartered 
liberty  in  exchange  for  order.  In  Bogdan  Hmel- 
nicky  the  scattered  settlements  and  clans  of  the 
steppes  found  a  hero  through  whose  genius  their 
warlike  race  was  to  receive  for  a  brief  period  the 
impulse  of  nationality. 

The  industry  and  courage  of  the  Cossacks  had 

65 


66  THE  COSSACKS 

brought  prosperity  if  not  peace  to  the  deserted 
steppes.  The  Polish  aristocrats  of  the  border, 
panye  and  starostsi,  were  now  for  the  first  time 
safe  behind  the  bulwark  of  their  settlements,  and 
already  had  begun  to  look  with  disfavour  on  their 
democratic  protectors.  Rightly  enough,  they  con- 
sidered that  the  "Free  People"  were  dangerous 
neighbors  for  their  own  serfs,  meek,  priest-ridden 
folk  exploited  alike  by  Jew  and  Jesuit. 

In  our  own  day  when  the  problems  of  a  "Free 
Poland"  unite  the  sympathies  of  the  victorious 
democracies,  it  is  difficult  to  reah'ze  the  meaning 
that  "Polish  Freedom"  must  have  conveyed  to  the 
peasant  and  Cossack  population  of  the  Ukraine 
two  centuries  ago.  The  persistent  loyalty  with 
which  the  Polish  people  have  clung  to  their  faith 
and  their  nationality  has  won  the  admiration  of  the 
whole  civilized  world.  Yet  the  most  superficial 
study  of  Polish  national  history  reveals  the  reason 
for  many  of  their  past  misfortunes. 

The  only  recognized  citizens  of  the  old  "re- 
public" of  Poland  were  the  panye,  or  nobles,  —  a 
class  so  jealous  of  its  arrogant  equality  that  the 
negative  vote  of  a  single  gentleman  could  set  at 
naught  the  deliberations  of  the  entire  nobiliary 
body  gathered  in  coimcil.  Their  parliaments  were 
usually  held  in  the  open  fields  near  Cracow  or 
Warsaw,  often  on  horseback.  These  were  attended 
by  all  of  aristocratic  lineage  who  chose  to  be 
present,  either  to  vote  or  to  impose  their  opinions 


•>ipfm#*^ 


STATUE  OF  BOdDAN 


BOGDAN :  A  COSSACK  NATIONAL  HERO      67 

by  their  shouts  or  the  clash  of  their  weapons.  The 
great  Polish  nobles  often  attended  these  as- 
semblies accompanied  by  private  armies  of  horse, 
foot  and  artillery,  recruited  from  among  their  serfs 
and  retainers.  Naturally,  few  of  these  armed  as- 
sizes passed  oflF  without  conflict  and  the  spilling  of 
much  azure  blood. 

No  Polish  pan  might  engage  in  trade.  To  buy 
and  sell  was  considered  degrading  and,  therefore, 
forbidden  their  class.  Yet  these  strange  "repub- 
lican" aristocrats  might  become  the  humble  ser- 
vants of  a  fellow  pan  without  losing  their  rights  in 
the  national  assembly.  Only  the  nobles  were  per- 
mitted to  own  land,  and  too  often  the  exploitation 
of  their  peasants  was  left  in  the  hands  of  Jew  or 
German  "factors"  or  overseers.  The  only  occupa- 
tion of  the  masters  of  the  soil  lay  in  the  more  con- 
genial emplojTnents  of  law-making  —  and  law- 
breaking.  In  the  tumultuous  assemblies  of  the  no- 
biliary Diet  only  one  principle  seems  to  have  met 
with  general  agreement  —  the  God-given  right  of 
the  pan  to  exploit  his  serfs  as  natural  "property." 
Among  the  free  peasants  and  Cossacks  of  the 
Ukraine  it  was  commonly  reported  that  the  Polish 
priests  taught  their  peasant  parishioners  to  answer 
a  question  of  the  catechism  beginning  ^'Why  has 
God  created  you?"  by  the  humble  response:  "To 
give  our  service  to  our  noble  lords." 

The   civilization   of   Poland   was    Catholic   and 
Roman:  the  civilization  of  the  border  provinces 


68  THE  COSSACKS 

looked  towards  the  East  and  remembered  By- 
zance.  These  differences  have  persisted  to  the 
present  time,  but  in  the  early  seventeenth  century, 
when  Catholic  Poland  was  a  powerful  state  and 
Russia  still  in  the  making,  rehgious  oppression 
sowed  the  seed  of  differences  which  have  not  yet 
died  away.  The  people  of  the  Orthodox  Ukraine 
—  peasants  and  Cossacks  alike  —  could  only  look 
to  a  distant  Tsar  for  redress  when  the  armed  emis- 
saries of  the  oppressing  Polish  Church  rode  among 
them  demanding  tithes  and  taxes.  Or  else  —  as  the 
wise  King  Sigismond  of  Poland  is  reported  to  have 
himself  advised  them  —  they  might  "trust  to  their 
own  Cossack  swords." 

The  complete  reunion  of  Poland  and  Lithuania 
decreed  at  Lublin  in  1569  had  resulted  in  a  promise 
to  the  Greek  Orthodox  population  of  the  border 
lands  that  the  freedom  of  their  religion  would  be 
respected.  But  the  militant  Catholic  order  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  was  firmly  entrenched  at  Warsaw. 
To  the  influence  of  these  learned  and  courtly 
prelates  the  Polish  aristocracy  owed  their  aston- 
ishing progress  in  the  arts  of  civilization  and  their, 
perhaps  too  faithful,  conformity  to  the  more  super- 
ficial standards  of  western  Europe.  The  not  un- 
natural ambition  of  the  Jesuits  —  and  of  the  Polish 
nobles  whose  political  policy  as  well  as  their 
conscience  was  dominated  by  these  spiritual  di- 
rectors,—  lay  in  bringing  about  the  submission  of 
the  Orthodox  provinces  of  the  Polish  frontier  to  the 


BOGDAN :  A  COSSACK  NATIONAL  HERO      69 

rule  of  the  Catholic  church.  By  one  of  those  able 
compromises  which  formed  the  basis  of  Jesuit 
diplomacy,  they  conceived  the  idea  of  endowing 
these  border  races  with  a  separate  "Uniate"  church. 
This  allowed  the  Orthodox  believers  to  retain  some 
features  of  the  old  ritual,  to  which  they  clung  so 
persistently,  while  yielding  obedience  to  the  Pope 
at  Rome.  But  this  first  crafty  step  towards  a  more 
irrevocable  union  was  viewed  with  not  unnatural 
suspicion  from  the  beginning.  In  1595  all  but 
thirty-seven  of  the  bishops  whose  sees  lay  in  the 
Orthodox  provinces  had  succumbed  to  the  power- 
ful influence  of  the  Jesuits.  Not  so,  however,  their 
parishioners,  the  sturdy  Ukrainian  peasantry  and 
the  Cossack  jmlhi.  To  these  latter  Orthodoxy 
meant  personal  liberty  and  the  dignity  of  freemen, 
while  Catholicism  preached  obedience  and  blind 
submission. 

The  lot  of  the  Orthodox  clergy  and  peasants  of 
the  Ukraine,  separated  by  a  gulf  of  fanaticism  from 
their  feudal  Polish  lords,  was  voiced  in  Morris 
Drecninski's  protest  to  the  King  in  the  Polish 
Diet:* 

"When  your  Majesty  goes  to  war  against  the 
Turk  who  furnishes  the  greater  part  of  your  army? 
Russians  practicing  the  Orthodox  faith!  How, 
then,  can  we  be  asked  to  sacrifice  our  lives  abroad 
when  at  home  there  is  no  peace?  Our  miseries,  the 
miseries  of  the  Russian  subjects  of  Poland,  are 

*  Rambaud,  op  cit,  p.  314. 


70  THE  COSSACKS 

patent  to  everyone.  In  the  great  cities  seals  close 
the  doors  of  our  churches  and  their  holy  treasuries 
are  despoiled.  In  our  monasteries  the  monks  are 
driven  forth  and  cattle  stabled  in  their  place.  Our 
children  are  without  baptism  and  their  corpses  are 
thrown  out  from  the  town  like  the  bodies  of  dead 
animals.  Men  and  women  must  live  together  with- 
out God's  benediction  given  by  a  priest.  Death  is 
without  confession  or  sacrament.  Is  not  this  an 
offence  against  God  and  will  not  God  avenge  us?" 

Another  grievance,  even  more  galling  to  the 
Orthodox  frontiersmen,  was  found  in  the  behaviour 
of  the  Jew  and  German  "intendants"  who  usually 
acted  as  intermediaries  between  the  Polish  lords  of 
the  manor  and  the  long-suffering  population  of 
their  estates.  These  "unbelievers"  were  often 
given  "control  of  the  rights  of  hunting  and  fishing, 
the  roads  and  wine  shops"  —  even  access  to  the 
Orthodox  churches  was  to  be  obtained  from  them 
only  by  paying  a  fee. 

The  bitterest  irony  of  the  situation  we  have 
described  lay  in  the  fact  that  these  burdens  were 
laid  by  the  aristocracy,  not  as  in  the  rest  of  Europe, 
upon  a  grovelling  population  of  serfs  to  whom  their 
lords  at  least  afforded  protection,  but  upon  a  border 
nation  of  alien  faith  and  blood  who,  following  the 
policy  of  the  Polish  kings,  possessed  a  system  of 
martial  preparedness  and,  indeed,  were  the  princi- 
pal protectors  of  the  Polish  frontiers. 

The  rampart  against  the  Turks  and  Tartars, 


BOGDAN :  A  COSSACK  NATIONAL  HERO      71 

formed  by  the  Cossack  settlements,  had  by  this 
time  become  fully  organized.  They  formed  no  less 
than  twenty  regular  Cossack  polki  or  regiments, 
each  under  its  own  colonel,  or  polkovnik.  The 
whole  of  this  well  disciplined  army  obeyed  the  com- 
mands of  a  single  military  chief  called  the  "Hetman 
of  the  Ukraine,"  who  received  his  appointment 
from  the  King  of  Poland.  In  all  his  decisions  this 
officer  was  guided  by  the  advice  of  a  starshina  or 
council  of  the  Cossack  elders. 

Besides  the  above  troops,  recruited  from  among 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Cossack  settlements  and  the 
''slovods"  or  armed  villages  nearer  the  Tartar  fron- 
tier, the  warlike  brotherhood  of  the  Zaporogian 
Cossacks  had  now  grown  into  a  powerful  military 
organization.  Their  stronghold  —  the  sitcli  — 
formed  a  permanent  camp  or  rendezvous  beyond 
the  rapids  of  the  Dnieper.  These  warriors  —  fa- 
mous in  all  Europe  —  represented  the  perfection, 
or  rather  the  extreme,  of  devotion  to  the  principles 
of  free  Cossack  life.  Their  celebrated  infantry 
were  the  only  troops  capable  of  withstanding  the 
shock  of  Polish  cavalry,  the  heavily  armed  hou- 
zars  or  hussars  of  noble  birth,  and  the  less  showy, 
but  no  less  invincible  dragoons. 

In  many  places  along  the  border  the  Cossacks 
had  old-established  settlements  scattered  among  the 
serf -tilled  lands  belonging  to  the  Polish  and  Lithu- 
anian nobles.  Often  these  homesteads,  which  the 
Cossacks  had   reclaimed  from  the  steppes,   were 


72  THE  COSSACKS 

tenaciously  claimed  through  some  shadowy  feudal 
right  by  absentee  Polish  landlords.  By  the  latter, 
the  Free  Cossacks  and  their  institutions  were  of 
course  considered  a  dangerous  example  to  the  doc- 
ile Polish  peasantry. 

In  order  to  discourage  the  gi'owth  of  a  class  of 
Cossack  proprietors,  even  the  tolerant  Polish  king, 
Stephen  Bathory,  had  tried  to  establish  a  register 
of  "Free  Cossacks"  whose  numbers  were  not  to 
exceed  six  thousand.  The  surplus  of  the  Cos- 
sacks —  those  not  needed  for  purposes  of  border 
defense  —  were  often  forced  to  labor  on  the  land  of 
some  feudal  lord.  It  was  concerning  the  coveted 
right  of  inscription  upon  this  list  of  free  men  and 
upon  grounds  of  religious  oppression  that  the  prin- 
cipal difference  now  arose  which  was  to  separate 
the  Cossack  nation  from  their  allegiance  to  the 
kings  of  Poland.  Long  patient  under  wrongs,  they 
felt  the  power  to  redress:  the  Cossacks  of  the 
Ukraine  only  awaited  a  hero  to  lead  them  in  a  war 
of  rightful  assertion  and  protest. 

Bogdan  Hmelnicky  had  been  chosen  by  the 
Swedish  King  of  Poland,  Vladislas  (or  Valdemar) 
Vasa,  as  Hetman  of  the  Cossacks  of  the  Ukraine, 
on  account  of  his  record  as  a  soldier,  and  because 
judged  by  the  standards  of  his  time,  he  possessed 
"no  small  share  of  learning"  — the  ability  both  to 
read  and  write.  Such  talents  were  almost  a  mark 
of  erudition  among  the  Cossacks  of  the  seventeenth 
century.     In  his  youth  a  brilliant  defense  of  the 


BOGDAN :  A  COSSACK  NATIONAL  HERO      73 

fortress  of  Zolkiev  against  the  Crimean  Tartars 
had  made  his  reputation  known  even  in  Europe, 
where  the  gazettes  were  always  much  concerned 
with  Polish  affairs.* 

The  incident  which  changed  Bogdan  from  a 
conscientious  official  of  the  Polish  crown  and 
made  him  the  implacable  enemy  of  his  former  pa- 
trons is  recorded  in  different  ways  by  contemporary 
historians,  —  usually  according  to  their  race  or 
prejudices.  All  are  agreed  that  he  was  the  victim 
of  a  cruel  wrong,  and  even  a  Polish  writer  of  his 
time  finds  his  principal  fault  to  have  been  that  "he 
revenged  himself  upon  the  state  for  a  private 
iniquity."** 

Bogdan  was  a  "free-holder"  or  non-noble  pro- 
prietor of  a  small  farm  and  flour  mill  at  a  place 

*  If  we  are  to  accept  the  version  set  forth  in  Sien- 
kiewicz's  "Heroic  Romance"  —  "Fire  and  Sword,"  Bog- 
dan's  reputation  would  not  be  much  better  than  that  of  a 
brutal  adventurer  who,  by  inciting  the  frontier  popula- 
tions to  revolt,  caused  untold  misery  throughout  the  Po- 
lish "Republic,"  and  among  his  own  countrymen.  Fortu- 
nately for  Bogdan's  good  name,  the  fine  scorn  of  the 
gifted  Polish  writer  for  the  "base-born"  Cossack  and  his 
glorification  of  the  perjured  "Yarema"  (Prince  Jeremy 
Visnowiecki),  are  not  shared  by  historical  authorities. 
The  truth  is  probably  to  be  found  somewhere  between  the 
work  of  fiction  referred  to  and  the  account  found  in  Sal- 
vandy's  Histoire  de  Jean  Sobieski." 

**  See  note,  Vol.  I.,  page  189,  Salvandy's  Histoire  de 
Jean  Sobieski. 


74  THE  COSSACKS 

called  Czehrin  near  the  shores  of  the  Dnieper.  His 
little  property  lay  in  a  country  where  for  leagues 
around  the  land  was  owned,  or  rather  claimed,  by 
the  great  Polish  family  of  Konietspolski.  The  in- 
tendant  of  these  feudal  lords  casting  a  covetous  eye 
on  the  Naboth's  vineyard  belonging  to  the  Cossack 
hetman,  summoned  him  before  a  tribunal  pre- 
sided over  by  their  common  master,  Alexander 
Konietspolski.  Here,  after  due  process  of  feudal 
law,  Bogdan  heard  himself  summarily  dispossessed. 
To  protest  against  such  a  sentence  was  unheard-of 
insolence.  Yet  the  hetman  (although  he  knew  that 
Cossack  "rights"  stood  little  chance  of  prevailing 
against  a  Polish  magnate  who  himself  interpreted 
the  laws )  ventured  to  take  this  step  —  trusting  in 
his  record  of  past  services  to  the  "republic."  As 
an  all-sufficient  answer,  the  veteran  soldier  was 
sentenced  to  serve  a  term  in  the  jail  of  the  Koni- 
etspolski. 

Fortunately  for  the  Cossack  nation,  Bogdan  was 
able  to  make  his  escape,  and  we  soon  find  him  an 
honoured  guest  in  that  citadel  of  personal  liberty, 
the  impenetrable  sitch  of  the  Zaporogians.  Among 
the  island  fortresses  defended  by  this  famous 
brotherhood,  even  the  armed  retainers  of  Koniets- 
polski dared  not  pursue  him.  Meanwhile,  the  in- 
tendant,  Czaplinski,  in  order  to  revenge  himself  in 
true  seignorial  fashion,  visited  Bogdan's  homestead 
at  the  head  of  his  retainers.  The  crime  that  ensued 
is  recounted  in  many  ways.  The  poetical  necessities 


BOGDAN :  A  COSSACK  NATIONAL  HERO      75 

of  the  case  may  have  caused  the  Cossack  ballad- 
historians  to  rouse  their  countrymen  by  painting 
the  intendant's  conduct  in  its  blackest  colours. 
Czaplinski,  besides  depriving  the  hetman  of  his 
property  sought,  in  his  absence,  "to  place  upon  the 
honour  of  his  victim's  family  an  unspeakable  out- 
rage." 

The  whole  incident  is  but  one  in  a  long  story  of 
oppression,  yet  it  was  the  spark  necessary  to  fire 
the  powder  magazine  of  Cossack  indignation  and 
to  rouse  their  fierce  resistance  to  wrongs  they  had 
too  long  patiently  endured.  The  war  which  now 
began  between  the  nobles  of  the  Polish  "republic" 
on  the  one  hand  and  the  Free  Cossacks  and  Ukrai- 
nian peasants  on  the  other  was  to  end  only  after 
the  fairest  provinces  of  the  border  land  had  again 
and  again  been  devastated  with  "fire  and  sword." 

It  was  at  the  head  of  nearly  100,000  Cossack 
soldiers  and  a  horde  of  Tartars  whom  the  promised 
plunder  of  the  Polish  castles  had  enlisted  on  the 
side  of  their  bitterest  enemies,  that  the  hetman  re- 
turned to  demand  an  accounting  from  the  Koniet- 
polski.  As  he  advanced,  new  volunteers  flocked  to 
his  standards:  Cossacks,  peasants,  and  gentle- 
men of  the  Ukraine,  whom  religious  persecution 
had  driven  from  their  estates.  In  the  space  of  a 
few  weeks  he  found  himself  the  leader  of  an  army 
of  irregular  troops  estimated  at  300,000  men  —  a 
whole  people  in  arms.  From  now  on  until  his  death 
Bogdan  was  an  uncrowned  king  —  the  head  of  a 


76  THE  COSSACKS 

Cossack  nation  for  the  first  time  united.  As  a  sym- 
bol or  scepter  of  authority  he  carried  in  his  hand  a 
reed  from  the  shores  of  the  River  Dneiper. 

Thinking  to  crush  without  difficulty  this  motley 
gathering  (for  in  spite  of  the  stiffening  battalions 
of  Zaporogian  frontiersmen  the  Cossack  polki  were 
scarcely  a  match  for  the  regular  troops  maintained 
by  the  Polish  republic)  a  brilliant  company  of 
nobles  set  forth  from  Warsaw  "as  to  the  chase." 
Their  leader  was  a  brave  young  general  — 
Stephen  Pototski.  At  Zoltivody  —  the  Yellow 
Waters  —  this  army  of  Polish  nobles  thought  to 
ride  roughshod  over  the  peasant  bands,  but  their 
own  defeat  was  complete  and  crushing,  i 

Vladislas,  the  King  of  Poland  —  the  wise  ruler 
of  a  distracted  nobility  —  received  on  his  deathbed 
a  message  from  Bogdan.  Although  the  Cossack 
chieftain  was  now  victorious,  his  letter  was  a  sub- 
missive proposal  (dated  June  2,  1648)  suggesting, 
not  dictating,  the  terms  of  an  honourable  peace. 
The  principal  privilege  asked  for  was  an  assurance 
that  the  "ancient  rights"  of  the  Cossacks,  notably 
the  famous  "Register  of  Freemen,"  should  be  re- 
stored, and  that  the  right  of  free  worship  be 
allowed  to  those  of  the  Greek-Orthodox  faith.  Per- 
haps the  very  mildness  of  the  tone  of  Bogdan's 
communication  deceived  Prince  Jeremy  Visno- 
wiecki,  the  new  chief  of  the  Polish  armies.  Prince 
Jeremy  was  the  embodiment  of  Jesuitical  intol- 
erance and  well-born  arrogance,  but  to  these  de- 


BOGDAN :  A  COSSACK  NATIONAL  HERO      77 

fects  he  joined  one  doubtful  virtue  —  stupid  and 
uncalculating  courage.  Strengthened  by  a  few 
minor  successes  among  his  own  revolted  villages, 
he  now  thought  only  of  punishing  the  offenders. 
"Strike  so  that  they  may  feel!!"  he  had  ordered  his 
judges  and  executioners.  The  story  of  his  "fright- 
fulness"  brought  to  the  Cossack  camp  new  and 
more  desperate  levies  of  volunteers. 

No  reply  had  even  been  vouchsafed  by  the  proud 
nobility  to  Bogdan's  proposal  of  peace.  Indeed 
none  was  awaited:  on  foreign  agent  and  Jesuit 
priest  —  the  twin  scourges  of  the  long-suffering 
Orthodox  peasants  of  the  Ukraine  —  fell  the 
weight  of  Cossack  vengeance.  The  stories  of  the 
wrongs  of  these  "martyrs"  have  generally  survived 
the  grievances  they  provoked.  It  is  but  fair,  how- 
ever, to  search  for  some  underlying  motive  of 
justice  behind  the  Cossack  brutalities  which  have 
been  so  eloquently  exploited.  In  spite  of  the 
naturally  prejudiced  accounts  of  Polish  historians, 
the  student  of  the  present  day  will  find  something 
besides  blind  ferocity  in  the  acts  of  this  "coalition 
of  Mussulmen,  Socinians  and  Greeks,"  who  in 
their  furious  crusade  overthrew  churches,  burned 
monasteries,  "granting  their  lives  to  monks  and 
nuns  only  to  enjoy  the  spectacle  of  their  forced 
nuptials,  celebrated  in  the  shadow  of  the  sword."  * 

Fleeing  before  the  advancing  Cossack  army,  a 
horde  of  fugitives:  old  men,  women  and  children, 

*  Salvandy  op.  cit.  Vol.  I,  page  191. 


78  THE  COSSACKS 

the  inhabitants  of  the  border  villages,  brought  to 
the  castles  and  cities  of  Poland  the  first  news  of 
these  unexpected,  unbelievable  disasters  to  her 
armies.  Thus  at  a  time  when  Western  Europe  was 
celebrating  the  end  of  thirty  years  of  continual 
bloodshed  by  signing  the  treaty  of  Westphalia,  the 
border  world  of  the  Slav  nation  took  up  the  burden 
of  war. 

After  the  death  of  the  wise  Vladislas,  a  great 
Plenary  Diet  of  the  nobles  of  Poland  was  held  on 
the  field  of  Volna.  While  the  excitable  Panye 
screamed  recriminations  at  each  other's  heads  — 
trj^ing  in  disorderly  conclave  to  elect  a  new  king 
for  their  distracted  nation  —  Jeremy  Visnowiecki 
with  an  army  of  140,000  men,  nobles  of  Poland 
with  their  serfs  and  mercenaries,  tried  to  stem  the 
tide  of  invasion  at  Plavace.  But  at  the  approach 
of  the  Cossacks  and  their  allies  this  forlorn  hope, 
gathered  from  all  her  wide  lands  to  meet  Poland's 
extremity,  melted  away  in  most  ungentlemanly 
panic  before  the  waving  of  Bogdan's  reed  —  the 
peasant  standard. 

Bogdan's  wise  policy  now  spared  the  farmsteads 
and  the  Roman  Catholic  churches  dear  to  the  Polish 
peasants.  But  upon  the  castles  of  the  nobility, 
stored  with  treasures  of  art  which  excited  the  admir- 
ation of  every  European  traveller  who  had  visited 
these  distant  lands,  the  advancing  host  wreaked  its 
anger.  Bogdan  no  longer  desired  a  mere  Cossack 
vengeance.     He  was  now  the  leader  of  a  popular 


BOGDAN :  A  COSSACK  NATIONAL  HERO      79 

movement  or  jacquerie  which  sought  to  secure  the 
same  privilege  for  the  peasants  of  Poland  that  his 
victories  promised  for  the  Cossack  inhabitants  of 
the  Ukraine.  While  the  only  electors  of  the  "re- 
public"—  the  privileged  nobles  —  still  deliberated 
at  Volna  over  the  choice  of  a  king,  Bogdan  had 
become  the  undisputed  ruler  of  the  Ukraine.  By 
establishing  popular  rule  over  an  ever  increasing 
expanse  of  Polish  territory,  he  seemed  about  to 
solve  the  problem  of  who  should  be  king,  in  his  own 
way. 

In  the  castle  at  Zamosc,  one  of  the  last  of  the 
"impregnable"  fortresses  of  the  Polish  borders, 
the  armies  of  Bogdan  were  besieging  a  dis- 
tinguished company  including  the  heads  of  nearly 
all  the  gi-eatest  feudal  families  of  the  western  prov- 
inces. Here,  with  their  servants  and  treasures,  were 
gathered  the  refugees  of  Plavace,  the  lords  and 
ladies  of  the  great  families  of  Viesnowiecki,  Za- 
moyski,  Sobieski,  besides  others  of  lesser  note.  To 
join  in  the  defense  of  this  last  stronghold  of  his 
caste,  John  Sobieski,  the  future  hero  of  all  Chris- 
tian Europe,  had  passed  during  the  night  through 
the  triple  lines  of  the  Cossack  armies. 

Under  this  brilliant  young  chieftain  the  besieged 
forces  still  held  out,  when  after  five  weeks  of  armed 
debate  the  choice  of  the  electors  of  Poland  fell  at 
last  upon  the  candidate  least  obnoxious  to  the  ma- 
jority of  the  electors.  The  honour  was  thrust  upon 
an  imwilling  prelate,  the  Cardinal  John  Cazimir, 


80  THE  COSSACKS 

a  brother  of  the  late  king.  This  solution  appeared 
preferable  to  a  choice  of  the  Russian  Tsar  Alexis, 
whose  ambitious  plans  would  have  joined  Poland 
and  Russia  in  a  "personal  union." 

Cardinal  John  Cazimir  (who  was  so  strangely 
to  end  his  days  in  exile  as  Abbot  of  the  Con- 
vent of  St.  Germain  des  Pres  in  Paris)  has  been 
described  as  "too  passionate  for  the  Church,  too 
feeble  for  the  throne  and,  above  all,  too  honest  and 
straightforward  for  his  time  and  country."  His 
first  royal  act  showed  the  latter  traits.  Refusing  to 
listen  to  the  partisans  of  Prince  Jeremy  —  who,  in 
spite  of  the  thorough  beating  the  Polish  nobles  had 
received,  continued  to  threaten  the  rebellious  Cos- 
sacks with  all  manner  of  legal  punisliments  sol- 
emnly voted  in  high  conclave  of  the  Diet  —  he 
offered  to  treat  with  Bogdan's  armies  on  the  basis 
of  their  old  guarantees. 

Over  his  royal  signature,  he  wrote  to  their  leader, 
proposing  ahnost  in  the  terms  used  between  sov- 
ereign and  sovereign,  that  the  past  be  forgotten. 
At  the  same  time  he  promised  to  revive  and  confirm 
the  ancient  privileges  of  the  Cossacks  which  had 
been  so  treacherously  violated  by  the  Jeremites. 
The  royal  messenger  was  instructed  to  deliver  at 
the  same  time  to  Bogdan,  if  he  were  prepared  to 
accept  them,  the  horse-tail  standard  and  other  re- 
galia formerly  conferred  on  every  Cossack  hetman 
by  the  kings  of  Poland.  Although  the  fortunes  of 
war  had  raised  the  man  thus  honoured  above  the 


BOGDAN :  A  COSSACK  NATIONAL  HERO      81 

power  of  the  Polish  throne,  Bogdan  placed  his  lips 
respectfully  upon  the  King's  signature.  As  a 
proof  of  immediate  obedience,  he  ordered  that  the 
final  assault  about  to  be  delivered  upon  the  castle 
of  Zamosc  should  be  abandoned.  Chivalrously 
trusting  to  the  royal  word,  the  army  of  Cossacks 
and  peasants  was  removed  some  ten  miles  from 
the  walls  of  this  last  battered  stronghold  of  Polish 
nobility.  But  the  generosity  of  the  Cossack  chief- 
tain and  the  hopes  of  the  popular  party  were  once 
more  to  be  deceived.  By  breaking  the  royal 
promises.  Prince  Jeremy  and  a  band  of  con- 
federated "nobles"  were  able  to  throw  themselves 
upon  the  undefended  camp  of  the  Cossacks,  win- 
ning a  treacherous  but  temporary  advantage.  The 
unfortunate  Cazimir,  although  a  stranger  to  the 
acts  of  Jeremy  and  protesting  against  such  viola- 
tion of  his  agreement,  was  none  the  less  forced  to 
march  to  the  assistance  of  the  Polish  forces. 

Still  wearing  the  rich  garments  they  had  donned 
in  honour  of  the  Cardinal's  marriage  with  his 
brother's  widow,  the  Polish  court  set  forth  to 
attack  the  indefatigable  Bogdan.  But  by  the  time 
they  had  reached  the  frontier,  this  amazing  wedding 
cortege  (whose  warlike  pomp  astonished  even 
the  accompanying  envoys  from  the  great  courts  of 
Europe)  learned  of  a  second  well-deserved  defeat 
of  the  perjured  "Jeremites."  Their  own  peril  now 
became  imminent.  At  Zborovo  the  embroidered 
tents  and  silken  pavilions  of  the  royal  army  were 


82  THE  COSSACKS 

soon  surrounded  and  beset  by  the  Cossack  and 
peasant  troops.  Only  the  sudden  defection  of  their 
undependable  ally,  the  Khan  of  Crimea,  saved 
Cazimir  and  his  bride.  The  Khan  had  been  won 
over  to  the  Polish  side  by  the  promised  renewal 
of  the  degrading  Polish  tribute  paid  his  ancestors. 
In  view  of  this  temporary  respite  the  angry  Bog- 
dan  once  more  consented  to  negotiate. 

The  old  terms  of  the  Cossack  demands  were  mag- 
nanimously renewed.  The  popular  party  chiefly 
insisted  upon  the  expulsion  of  both  Jews  and  Jes- 
uits from  the  Orthodox  provinces.  The  rights  of 
the  metropolitan  of  Kiev  to  a  seat  in  the  Senate  of 
Warsaw  and  the  opening  of  the  Cossack  registers 
to  enroll  40,000  Cossacks  —  who  were  thus  pro- 
tected from  the  claims  and  exploitation  of  the  Po- 
hsh  landholders  —  was  also  secured.  In  a  final 
clause  Bogdan  was  recognized  by  the  King  of  Po- 
land as  his  deputy  and  hetman  over  all  the  prov- 
inces of  Little  Russia,  thus  securing  the  practical 
autonomy  of  the  Ukraine  provinces. 

After  the  peace  of  Zborovo,  Bogdan  had  written 
to  the  Polish  king  as  follows;  —  "Through  his  own 
example,  my  father  taught  me  loyalty  in  my  cradle 
by  djing  for  the  republic.  If  I  have  been  forced  to 
spill  noble  blood,  whose  is  the  fault?  Let  your 
Majesty  inquire  of  the  nobles  who  surround  him! 
I  am  ready,  Sire,  to  satisfy  all  your  Majesty's  de- 
sires and,  for  my  own  part,  no  false  pride  shall  in- 
terfere. I  only  ask  one  thing:  the  certainty  of 
living  in  peace  under  Your  Majesty's  laws." 


BOGDAN :  A  COSSACK  NATIONAL  HERO      83 

The  unfortunate  John  Cazimir,  Bodgan  recog- 
nized as  a  statesman  in  whose  word  he  could  trust. 
But  the  Polish  nobility  of  that  day  could  not  feel 
their  "honour"  involved  in  keeping  faith  with  such 
low-born  enemies.  The  years  that  followed,  — 
marking  alas !  but  a  truce  in  the  popular  strife,  — 
were  fatal  chapters  in  the  national  story  of  Poland. 
It  is  impossible  to  find  any  true  record  of  this  time. 
The  only  historical  sources  are  so  filled  with  the 
recriminations  and  exaggerations  of  their  authors 
as  to  be  almost  useless  to  the  student. 

Over  the  whole  Ukraine  hangs  a  red  mist,  the 
firelit  smoke  rising  from  hamlet  and  chateau. 
Hidden  by  this  pall  the  forms  of  the  contestants 
are  but  dimly  seen:  peasant  mobs,  wild  Cossack 
troops,  and  the  brilliantly  armed  retainers  of  the 
panye  of  the  Polish  "republic."  Above  the  charge 
and  shock  of  the  contending  armies  rise  the  woeful 
cries  of  thousands  of  innocent  victims  sacrificed  by 
this  horrible  civil  carnage.  Even  the  heroic  Bog- 
dan  felt  the  call  of  ambition  and  personal  spite. 
Turning  from  his  pursuit  of  the  national  enemy, 
the  hetman  of  the  Ukraine  undertook  a  campaign 
against  Moldavia  in  order  to  force  the  volovoda  of 
that  province  to  bestow  the  hand  of  his  daughter, 
Rosanda  (promised  to  his  personal  foe,  Jeremy 
Viesnowiecki),  on  his  own  son,  Timothy  Hmel- 
nicky. 

Under  the  liberal-minded  Sultan  Mahomed  IV 
(1650)    Constantinople  had  become  a  refuge  for 


84  THE  COSSACKS 

all  the  religious  exiles  of  Europe,  fleeing  from  the 
persecution  of  their  fellow  Christians.  The 
Orthodox  patriarch  in  the  Turkish  capital  induced 
Bogdan  to  accept  from  the  Sultan  the  high  title 
of  "Prince  of  the  Ukraine."  A  little  later,  the  same 
influences  found  no  difficulty  in  launching  the 
Cossacks  upon  a  renewed  crusade  against  the 
Catholics  and  Jesuitized  Uniates  of  the  border 
provinces. 

But  the  Poles  had  profited  by  the  respite  given 
them  during  Bogdan's  southern  campaigns  to 
strengthen  their  armies  with  troops  of  German  mer- 
cenaries, whose  trade  of  war  had  languished  in 
Eastern  Europe  since  the  Peace  of  Westphalia. 
Bogdan  and  his  Cossacks,  encamped  near  Zboraz, 
ravaging  at  their  leisure  the  lands  of  the  Viesno- 
wiecki,  found  himself  attacked  by  these  formidable 
reinforcements.  Although  the  Cossacks  defended 
themselves  courageously  behind  their  famous  "ta- 
bors"—  ramparts  formed  by  ox-carts  —  the  for- 
tunes of  the  day  remained  with  the  professional 
soldiery  of  Tilly  and  Wallenstein.  Moreover,  the 
promised  Turkish  reinforcements  failed  to  arrive 
in  aid  of  Bogdan  at  the  critical  moment. 

After  the  temporary  advantages  thus  gained  by 
the  party  of  the  nobles  the  famous  Cossack  Register 
was  reduced  to  20,000.  But  rather  than  return  to 
the  fields  of  their  Polish  oppressors,  great  numbers 
of  Cossacks  emigrated  to  join  their  brethren  on 
Russian     territory.      In     the     stanitzi     on     the 


BOGDAN :  A  COSSACK  NATIONAL  HERO      85 

shores  of  the  Don  and  Volga,  they  were  more  free 
to  exercise  their  national  customs  at  the  same  time 
the  Tsar's  armies  were  strengthened  by  recruits 
ever  ready  for  a  new  attack  upon  the  Polish 
frontier.  Bogdan  had,  moreover,  fully  realized  that 
the  pride  of  the  Polish  nobles  could  learn  nothing 
by  experience.  Their  determination  to  exercise 
ruthlessly  their  "rights"  over  the  peasants  who  had 
entrusted  their  fortunes  to  the  Cossack  alliance  was 
shown  by  every  new  act  of  the  Diet.  With  a  nation 
controlled  only  by  class  feeling,  no  compromise 
can  be  made,  no  agreements  held.  Already  their 
fellows  were  deserting  the  Cossack  settlements  in 
alarming  numbers  to  place  themselves  under  the 
protection  of  the  Tsar  on  Russian  territory.  The 
time  had  come  for  Bogdan  and  the  Cossacks  of  the 
Dnieper  to  make  their  choice. 

About  this  time  an  ambassador  of  the  Tsar, 
Prince  Buturline,  visited  the  Cossack  camp,  and 
Bogdan  assembled  the  chiefs  of  the  Cossack  nation 
to  consult  with  this  official.  At  Perieslav,  their 
assembly  was  asked  to  decide  the  future  of  the 
Ukraine  nation.  The  hetman  began  his  speech  as 
follows :  — 

"My  lord  colonels,  scribes  and  captains:  and  you, 
noble  army  of  the  Zaporogians:  All  of  you,  chris- 
tians of  the  Orthodox  faitli,  are  witnesses  that  we 
can  no  longer  live,  except  under  the  protection  of 
a  prince.  We  have  a  choice  of  four  masters;  The 
Sultan  of  Turkey,  the  King  of  Poland,  the  Khan 
of  the  Crimea,  or  the  Tsar." 


86  THE  COSSACKS 

Continuing  his  long  harangue,  he  pointed  out 
many  reasons  (notably  their  common  religion) 
that  caused  him  to  give  his  own  vote  in  favor  of  a 
Russian  alliance.  A  loud  shout  of  assent  greeted 
his  words.  It  was  decided  to  send  a  deputation 
without  delay  to  the  Tsar  Alexis,  beseeching  him 
to  take  his  "children  of  Little  Russia"  under  his 
protection.  In  an  assembly  of  the  Russian  States 
General  summoned  by  Alexis,  the  strong  argument 
was  advanced  that  unless  the  offers  of  Bogdan  were 
accepted,  the  whole  Cossack  nation  might  be  forced 
to  place  itself  under  the  protection  of  Turkey  or 
the  "Crim  Tartars."  Reasons  of  policy  decided 
the  Russians  to  incorporate  these  turbulent  new 
citizens  within  the  empire,  but  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
no  other  "conquest"  of  the  Ukraine  ever  took  place. 

Meanwhile,  Timothy  Hmelnicky  had  once  more 
set  out  to  seek  his  fatal  bride,  Rosanda.  Attacked 
by  the  Poles  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Bug,  he  de- 
feated them  with  great  slaughter.  While  the  inter- 
rupted nuptials  of  Bogdan's  son  and  heir  with 
Jeremy's  betrothed  were  celebrated,  the  Polish 
Diet  in  the  extremity  of  its  despair  begged  for 
military  aid  from  the  Diet  of  the  empire  at 
Ratisbon. 

At  the  present  time,  the  reasons  offered  as  an 
excuse  for  such  an  appeal  are  worthy  of  note: 
"Fighting  always  in  the  name  of  liberty  this  slogan 
strengthens  the  Cossack's  cause.  If  left  to  them- 
selves the  Cossacks  may  even  find  partisans  in 


BOGDAN :  A  COSSACK  NATIONAL  HERO      87 

Silesia  ready  to  help  them.  For  these  reasons  the 
Emperor's  help  is  implored."  Failing  to  move  the 
Emperor,  the  Diet  next  addressed  itself  to  the 
Khan  of  the  Crimea,  although  one  of  their  prin- 
cipal grievances  against  Bogdan  had  been  the  Cos- 
sack alliance  with  the  Tartars.  This  ferocious  ally, 
whose  help  they  could  only  hope  to  secure  on  con- 
dition that  two  of  their  Polish  provinces  be  given 
to  his  troops  for  pillage,  also  refused  his  support.* 

Although  distrusting  the  Polish  nobles,  with 
whom  he  was  but  nominally  at  peace,  and  in  spite 
of  the  successes  of  the  Cossack  party,  the  Tsar 
Alexis  still  hesitated  in  his  decision.  Bogdan, 
whose  son  Timothy  had  fallen  in  a  border  skirmish, 
now  renewed  his  demands  that  the  Russians  should 
accept  the  Cossack  alliance.  According  to  Sal- 
vandy  the  final  argument  which  decided  the  Tsar 
to  make  war  with  Poland  was  the  victory  of  a  bull 
named  "Moscovj'^"  over  another  named  "Poland," 
during  one  of  those  trials  by  "ordeal"  in  which  the 
creduHty  of  that  day  still  saw  the  judgment  of  a 
higher  power.  The  mathematical  academy  of 
Warsaw  (a  fact  authenticated  by  a  despatch  of 
the  Emperor's  envoy)  was  at  the  same  time  en- 
gaged in  a  profound  astrological  calculation,  whose 
results  bore  out  the  judgment  of  Alexis'  bulls,  but 
in  a  sense,  of  course,  favourable  to  their  own 
country. 

The  final  excuse  for  opening  hostilities  by  a 

*  See  Salvandy,  oy.  cit..  Vol.  I,  page  2. 


88  THE  COSSACKS 

Russian  advance  against  the  Polish  provinces  was 
found  in  the  studied  arrogance  of  the  Polish  dip- 
lomats, who,  in  spite  of  the  continued  remon- 
strances of  Alexis'  envoys,  insisted  upon  address- 
ing the  Tsar  with  one  "etc."  less  than  the  majesty 
of  his  imperial  titles  required. 

The  Moscovite  armies  quickly  overran  Lithu- 
ania, capturing  in  succession  Vilna,  Grodno  and 
Kovno,  long  centres  of  contention  between  the 
armies  of  Russia  and  Poland.  Meanwhile  Bogdan 
and  his  Cossacks  advanced  upon  the  border  prov- 
inces of  the  south,  capturing  the  proud  city  of  Lem- 
berg,  whose  burghers  enjoyed  the  rights  of  Polish 
nobility.  Few  writers  of  the  time  seem  to  have 
realized  that  the  whole  political  balance  of  Eastern 
Europe  was  about  to  change.  A  new  "Great  Em- 
pire" whose  weight  in  the  future  councils  of  Europe 
was  to  become  preponderant,  had  come  into  ex- 
istence. The  defection  of  the  Cossacks  from  their 
Polish  alliance  turned  the  scales  of  the  balanced 
forces  at  the  command  of  the  two  great  Slav  states 
in  favour  of  Russia.  Henceforth  Poland  was  to 
remain  on  the  defensive  in  all  her  struggles  with 
her  mighty  neighbour. 

By  a  strange  turn  of  events,  now  briefly  to  be  de- 
scribed in  their  relation  to  the  Cossack  cause,  the 
appearance  of  a  third  enemy  in  the  field  alone  saved 
the  Polish  state.  Charles  X  of  Sweden,  alarmed  by 
the  rapid  success  of  the  Russians  in  Lithuania, 
tried  to  secure  a  share  of  the  spoil  for  Sweden. 


BOGDAN :  A  COSSACK  NATIONAL  HERO      89 

After  conquering  —  with  the  help  of  Polish  mal- 
contents —  the  great  cities  of  Posen,  Warsaw  and 
Cracow,  he  allowed  himself  to  be  elected  King  of 
Poland  by  the  distracted  Diet.  With  little  love  for 
the  "republic"  of  which  he  was  now  the  titular  head, 
he  turned  his  armies  and  ambitions  against  the  Tsar 
in  her  defense.  The  Polish  nation,  trampled  un- 
derfoot by  this  double  conquest,  could  henceforth 
only  profit  by  the  quarrels  of  its  destroyers  over 
their  spoils,  to  preserve  for  more  than  a  century  a 
precarious  independence. 

In  judging  of  Bogdan's  conduct  in  connection 
with  the  complicated  situation  which  now  arose,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  the  freedom  and  privi- 
leges of  the  Cossack  nation  in  the  Ukraine  had  been 
the  primary  object  of  his  momentous  revolt  against 
Poland.  He  had  indeed  appeared  to  abandon  this 
ambition  for  independence  by  placing  the  Cossack 
nation  under  the  rule  of  the  Tsar  Alexis.  Although 
the  Assembly  of  Perieslav  and  the  decisions  taken 
under  Bogdan's  influence  became  the  most  signifi- 
cant and  lasting  event  of  his  career,  the  situation 
created  by  the  invasion  of  the  Swedes  caused  him 
to  regret  this  alliance  with  Russia.  Once  more  the 
Cossacks  dreamed  of  a  third  great  Slav  state,  which 
their  valor  might  establish  in  the  "land  of  Bus." 
In  the  later  plans  of  Bogdan  we  may  perhaps  find 
the  first  signs  of  the  Rutheno-Slav  or  Ukrainian 
movement  of  the  present  day. 

In  January  1657,  the  Voievoda  of  Transylvania, 


90  THE  COSSACKS 

George  Rakovsky,  invaded  the  distracted  Polish 
"republic"  as  the  ally  of  Charles  of  Sweden.  A 
dismemberment  of  Poland  now  threatened,  which 
might  have  anticipated  the  events  which  occurred 
more  than  a  century  later.  Bogdan  and  his  Cos- 
sacks saw  in  the  onslaughts  of  this  newcomer  an 
opportunity  to  recover  the  liberties  which  had  been 
lost  or  restricted  by  their  agreements  with  the  Tsar. 
Although  joining  their  forces  to  the  new  enemy  of 
their  Polish  oppressors,  the  Cossacks  found  them- 
selves allied  to  an  avowed  enemy  of  Russia.  The 
maritime  nations  of  Europe  now  began  to  take  part 
in  these  complicated  struggles  of  the  Northern 
Powers.  The  jealous  intervention  of  Sweden's  old 
enemies,  the  rival  sea-powers  of  Denmark  and  Hol- 
land, forced  Charles  to  retire  from  Poland  in  such 
haste  that  in  his  retreat,  he  had  not  even  time  to 
notify  his  allies.  Rakovsky  escaped  the  anger  of 
the  Poles  through  a  series  of  humiliating  conces- 
sions, only  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Tartars 
while  retreating  homewards.  Thus,  in  the  short 
space  of  six  weeks,  through  a  series  of  unforeseen 
events  and  combinations  which  their  own  courage 
did  little  to  bring  about,  the  Polish  nobles  found 
their  territory  rid  of  the  devastating  presence  of 
three  armies. 

At  this  embarrassing  juncture  in  the  affairs  of 
the  Cossacks  —  hated  by  the  Poles  and  separated 
from  their  Russian  allies  —  there  disappeared  from 
the  scene  a  man,  who,  in  the  turmoil  of  these  events 


BOGDAN :  A  COSSACK  NATIONAL  HERO      91 

had  played  so  great  and  singular  a  part.  "Able, 
both  as  a  statesman  and  a  warrior,  accorded  a 
kingly  state  by  all  the  Great  Powers,  Bogdan  con- 
tinued until  the  end  of  his  career  to  lead  the  life  of 
a  peasant  or  a  common  soldier.  In  the  same  room 
that  he  shared  with  his  wife  and  children  he  re- 
ceived embassies  from  the  greatest  crowned 
heads  of  Europe.  The  sudden  apoplectic  stroke 
which  carried  off  the  veteran  chief  of  the  Cossacks 
removed  a  factor  which,  for  ten  years,  had  played 
a  role  in  Eastern  Europe  which  has  been  compared 
to  that  of  Cromwell  in  the  West.  Yet  today  Bog- 
dan's  name  is  all  but  forgotten  in  history.* 

While  readers  of  the  English  race  may  consider 
exaggerated  a  parallel  between  the  Cossack  Bog- 
dan  and  the  great  Protector,  we  must  take  into  ac- 
count in  our  judgment  of  these  men  and  their  am- 
bitions, the  widely  different  circumstances  which 
confronted  them.  Both  tried,  in  the  name  of  lib- 
erty, to  build  into  free  states  nations  just  emerging 
from  the  tyranny  of  feudal  institutions.  Both 
sought  to  maintain  independent  of  the  autocratic 
governments  that  surrounded  them,  democracies 
anticipating  those  of  our  own  day. 

But,  by  "freedom"  it  is  to  be  feared  the  Cossack 
comrades  of  Bogdan  understood  little  except 
license.  During  the  siege  of  Zamosc  at  the  most 
fatal  moment  of  their  national  fortunes,  even  the 
prestige  of  Bogdan's  leadership  could  not  prevent 

*  Salvandy. 


92  THE  COSSACKS 

large  numbers  of  his  followers  from  deserting  the 
Cossack  camp  in  order  to  place  in  safety  the  rich 
spoils  of  the  chateaux  pillaged  by  the  way.  The 
Cossack  troopers  that  remained,  "astonished  to  find 
themselves  eating  their  coarse  rations  from  silver 
plates,  drinking  from  golden  goblets  and  sleeping 
on  couches  covered  with  the  richest  furs,  passed 
their  days  and  nights  in  orgies  and  masquerades. 
Simple  peasants,  dressed  in  the  stolen  trappings  of 
noble  bishops  and  palatines  wasted  the  stern  op- 
portunities their  courage  had  won." 

With  the  death  of  Bogdan  the  free  Cossack  state 
he  had  founded  in  the  Ukraine  fell  to  pieces  almost 
in  a  night  —  nor  were  his  great  projects  revived 
until  recent  times. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UKRAINE 

BOGDAN  left  to  his  surviving  son  a  splendid 
heritage  —  the  duty  of  carrying  out  gi-eat 
projects  but  half  realized.  Soon  after  his  father's 
death  George  Hmelnicky  found  even  his  right  to 
the  hetmanship  contested  by  John  Wykowski,  a 
Cossack  representing  the  faction  favorable  to  Po- 
land. The  young  hetman  threw  himself  upon  the 
mercies  of  the  Tsar  Alexis,  but  the  majority  of  the 
Cossack  settlements  once  more  temporarily  united 
themselves  with  Poland,  lured  by  the  promise, 
readily  broken,  that  they  should  enjoy  nationality 
as  an  independent  duchy  under  the  Polish  crown. 
The  Cossack  officers  of  this  faction  now  began  to 
copy  the  manners  of  the  Polish  panye  fatuously 
dreaming  of  a  nobility  of  their  own.  At  Knotop 
the  Hetman  Wykowski  led  these  "free"  Cossacks 
for  the  last  time  to  victory  against  the  Russian 
troops.  But  factions  known  as  the  parties  of  the 
"Left  and  Right  Bank"  (i.  e.  of  the  river  Dnieper, 
forming  the  geographical  boundary  between  the 
two  Slav  nations)  divided  the  Cossacks  who  still 
professed  allegiance  to  Poland  into  two  opposing 
parties.     Moreover  the  PoHsh  nobles,  blinded  by 

93 


94  THE  COSSACKS 

their  fanatical  faith  in  their  feudal  rights,  lost  every 
opportunity  of  rallying  the  Cossacks  to  their  stan- 
dard. Religious  intolerance  soon  played  its  fatal 
role.  The  Catholic  bishop  of  Cracow  grossly  in- 
sulted the  Orthodox  metropolitan  of  Kiev,  whose 
place  had  been  assured  him  in  the  Plenary  Council 
of  the  Diet.  The  Greek-Orthodox  Cossacks,  mad- 
dened by  this  act,  joined  in  a  sudden  massacre  of 
the  adherents  of  the  Hetman  Wykowski.  Under 
the  leadership  of  the  son  of  Bogdan  the  majority 
of  the  Cossack  settlements  returned  once  more  to 
their  Russian  allegiance.  The  fairest  provinces  of 
the  ancient  "land  of  Rus,"  Kiev,  Poltava  and  the 
broad  steppes  of  the  Ukraine  were  lost  forever  to 
the  Polish  Crown.  Even  in  their  undeveloped  state 
these  rich  borderlands  were  recognized  both  by  the 
rulers  of  Russia  and  Poland  to  be  a  prize  essential 
to  the  predominance  of  their  states. 

A  vivid  description  of  the  appearance  of  the 
Ukraine  at  this  time  is  to  be  found  in  Sienkiewicz' 
famous  work,  "With  Fire  and  Sword." 

"The  last  traces  of  settled  life  ended  on  the  way 
to  the  south,  at  no  great  distance  beyond  Chigirin 
on  the  side  of  the  Dnieper,  and  on  the  side  of  the 
Dniester  not  far  from  Uman;  thence  forward  to 
the  bays  and  sea  there  was  nothing  but  steppe  after 
steppe,  hemmed  in  by  the  two  rivers  as  by  a  frame. 
At  the  bend  of  the  Dnieper  in  the  lower  country 
beyond  the  cataracts  Cossack  life  was  seething,  but 
in  the  open  plains  no  man  dwelt;  only  along  the 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UKRAINE       95 

shores  were  nestled  here  ai  there  httle  fields,  like 
islands  in  the  sea.  The  land  belonged  in  name  to 
Poland,  but  it  was  an  empty  land,  in  which  the 
Commonwealth  permitted  the  Tartars  to  graze 
their  herds;  but  since  the  Cossacks  prevented  this 
frequently,  the  field  of  pasture  was  a  field  of  battle 
too. 

How  many  struggles  were  fought  in  that  region, 
how  many  people  had  laid  down  their  lives  there, 
no  man  had  counted,  no  man  remembered.  Eagles, 
falcons,  and  ravens  alone  saw  these;  and  whoever 
from  a  distance  was  heard  the  sound  of  wings  and 
the  call  of  ravens,  whoever  beheld  the  whirl  of  birds 
circling  over  one  place,  knew  that  corpses  or  un- 
buried  bones  were  lying  beneath.  Men  were  hunted 
in  the  grass  as  wolves  or  wild  goats.  All  who  wished 
engaged  in  this  hunt.  Fugitives  from  the  law  de- 
fended themselves  in  the  wild  steppes.  The  armed 
herdsman  guarded  his  flock,  the  warrior  sought 
adventure,  the  robber  plunder,  the  Cossack  a  Tar- 
tar, the  Tartar  a  Cossack.  It  happened  that  whole 
bands  guarded  herds  from  troops  of  robbers.  The 
steppe  was  both  empty  and  filled,  quiet  and  terrible, 
peaceable  and  full  of  ambushes;  wild  by  reason  of 
its  wild  plains,  but  wild,  too,  from  the  wild  spirit 
of  men. 

At  times  a  great  war  filled  it.  Then  there  flowed 
over  it  like  waves  Tartar  chamhuls,  Cossack  regi- 
ments, Polish  or  Wallachian  companies.  In  the 
night-time  the  neighing  of  horses  answered  the 


96  THE  COSSACKS 

howling  of  wolves,  the  voices  of  drums  and  brazen 
trumpets  flew  on  to  the  island  of  Ovid  and  the  sea, 
and  along  the  black  trail  of  Kutchman  there  seemed 
an  inundation  of  men.  The  boundaries  of  the  Com- 
monwealth were  guarded  from  Kamenyets  to  the 
Dnieper  by  outposts  and  stanitzi;  and  when  the 
roads  were  about  to  swarm  with  people,  it  was 
known  especially  by  the  countless  flocks  of  birds 
which,  frightened  by  the  Tartars,  flew  onward  to 
the  north.  But  the  Tartar,  if  he  slipped  out  from 
the  Black  Forest  or  crossed  the  Dniester  from  the 
Wallachian  side,  came  by  the  southern  provinces 
together  with  the  birds." 

ilk  ^  ^  ^  ^  ^ 

By  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  Andrusov,  signed 
January  13th,  1667,  the  Tsar  and  the  King  of 
Poland  came  to  a  first  definite  arrangement  cover- 
ing the  territories  of  Ukraine.  This  document  care- 
fully defined  the  influence  each  monarch  was  to 
exercise  upon  the  Cossack  settlements  of  the 
Dnieper.  The  classic  stream  became  effectively 
the  boundary  between  the  two  states.  Kiev,  the 
capital  of  Little  Russia,  was  left  (pending  future 
negotiations,  to  which  the  Tsar  Alexis  looked  for- 
ward without  anxiety)  in  the  hands  of  the  Russians. 
The  administration  of  the  turbulent  Zaporogian 
sitch  was  made  subject  to  the  joint  "protection"  of 
both  Crowns,  a  pretension  which,  needless  to  say, 
the  "Republic  of  the  Free  Cossacks  beyond  the 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UKRAINE       97 

Cataracts"  disclaimed  with  scorn.  Both  high  con- 
tracting parties  agreed  not  to  enlist  in  their  re- 
spective armies  subjects  of  the  other  crown,  nor  to 
encourage  the  emigration  from  one  bank  to  another 
of  Cossacks  settled  in  their  respective  territory. 

A  final  article  of  the  treaty  solemnly  set  forth 
that  neither  King  nor  Tsar  should  interfere  with 
any  measures  which  the  other  High  Contracting 
Party  should  deem  necessary  in  order  to  discipline 
these  new,  involuntary  subjects.  At  first  kept 
secret,  the  clauses  of  this  treaty  which  thus  dis- 
posed of  their  territory  without  their  consent  be- 
came known  to  the  Cossacks  on  both  sides  of  the 
river.  The  settlements  blazed  with  indignation. 
Doroshenko  the  hctman  elected  by  the  Polish 
faction,  and  Brukowicki,  the  hetman  appointed  by 
the  Tsar,  became  equally  objects  of  suspicion 
among  the  men  of  their  own  parties.  A  tumultuous 
invasion  was  immediately  made  by  the  Zaporogians 
upon  the  neighbouring  Polish  and  Russian  prov- 
inces in  the  defense  of  the  "National  Liberties." 
Every  party  now  understood  the  term  "Freedom" 
to  mean  the  right  to  sack  and  pillage  mirestrained 
the  fair  territory  of  the  Ukraine  whose  interest  all 
professed  to  defend.  These  disorders  finally  re- 
sulted in  a  second  convention  with  Russia,  to  which 
the  majority  of  the  Cossacks  adhered. 

Under  the  Hetman  Samoilovitch  devoted  to  the 
cause  of  the  Tsar,  the  imperial  power  was  greatly 
extended.     By  the  signature  of  a  new  peace  at 


98  THE  COSSACKS 

Moscow  in  1686  both  Kiev  and  Smolensk  were 
abandoned  by  Poland  to  the  administration  of 
Russia,  the  Tsar  undertaking  to  maintain  order 
along  the  troubled  frontiers  of  the  Crimean  Tar- 
tars, thus  leaving  Sobieski  free  to  continue  his 
famous  crusade  against  his  sworn  enemy,  the  Tur- 
kish Sultan. 

Through  the  skilful  diplomacy  of  the  Tsar 
Alexis  —  even  greater  as  an  empire  builder  than 
his  son  Peter  the  Great  —  these  negotiations  finally 
resulted  in  drawing  closer  the  bond  uniting 
the  Cossack  class  to  the  Russian  Crown.  Their 
obstinate  pride  and  determination  to  exercise  their 
feudal  "rights"  over  a  free  and  warlike  population 
had  lost  to  the  Pohsh  nobles  of  the  frontier  the 
jurisdiction  they  had  formerly  claimed.  It  must 
not  be  supposed,  however,  that  in  passing  to  Rus- 
sian allegiance  the  Cossacks  abandoned  their  claim 
to  autonomy. 

The  story  of  the  Cossack  revolts  dm-ing  the 
eighteenth  century  fills  an  important  page  in  Rus- 
sian history. 


Even  under  the  regune  of  the  last  Romanovs  a 
service  was  held  every  year  in  many  of  the  churches 
of  Russia  for  the  solemn  cursing  —  with  full 
ritual  —  of  all  religious  and  political  heretics  who 
in  the  past  had  ventured  to  disturb  the  public  order 
of  the  empire.    Mentioned  separately  the  names  of 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UKRAINE       99 

"the  False  Dmitri,"  Boris  Godounov,  Stenka 
Razin,  Mazeppa  and  Pougatchev  were  greeted  by 
the  clergy  with  thundering  responses  of  "Ana- 
thema !   Anathema !' ' 

The  fact  that  three  of  the  persons  judged  worthy 
of  this  curious  distinction  were  Cossacks,  while  "the 
False  Dmitri"  generally  enjoyed  their  support, 
would  seem  to  demonstrate  that  even  the  potent 
brew  contained  in  the  "melting-pot"  of  Russian  im- 
perialism found  difficulty  in  absorbing  such  recal- 
citrant elements  as  the  "Republics"  of  the  Dnieper, 
the  Don  and  the  Jaik. 

In  spite  of  its  brief  importance,  the  Cossack  re- 
volt led  by  Stenka  Razin  in  the  years  1671-3*  may 
be  dismissed  as  an  outbreak  of  border  ruffianism 
led  by  a  particularly  successful  river  pirate  and 
brigand.  Profiting  by  a  time  of  famine  and  dis- 
tress along  the  Volga,  Razin  became  a  kind  of 
border  Robin  Hood,  enjoying  the  popularity  easily 
acquired  by  anyone  who  pretends  to  revenge  the 
wrongs  of  the  poor  upon  the  purses  of  the  rich. 
His  name  will,  moreover,  always  be  remembered 
in  Russia  for  its  connection  with  the  unforgetable 
lilt  of  the  song  "Volga,  Volga,"  etc.  But  his  over- 
throw near  Zimbirsk  by  Bariatinski  and  his  exe- 
cution at  Moscow  put  a  sudden  end  to  a  career 
which  left  no  afteraiath.** 

*  The  date  is  variously  given  from  1673  to  1679. 
**  The  incident  celebrated  in  the  popular  song  "Volga, 
Volga,"  tells  of  Razin's  ready  solution  of  an  ethical  prob- 


100  THE  COSSACKS 

The  early  years  of  the  reign  of  Peter  I  were 
troubled  by  a  series  of  revolts  or  mutinies  in  the 
Cossack  territories  of  the  Don,  which,  although 
ending  in  a  severe  punishment  of  the  ringleaders, 
exhibited  the  determination  of  this  important 
branch  of  the  "Free  People"  not  to  allow  their 
privileges  to  be  overridden  by  the  growing  power 
of  the  autocracy. 

As  in  the  previous  two  centuries,  the  flight  or 
emigration  of  their  serfs  from  the  estates  of  the 
hoyars  in  the  north  had  continued  to  excite  the  ap- 
prehension of  the  Russian  nobles.  During  the 
opening  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  it  was  cal- 
culated that  the  call  of  liberty  and  free  land  had 
drawn  nearly  30,000  serfs  to  the  Cossack  settle- 
ments of  the  Don.  The  Tsar,  Peter  the  Great, 
whose  far-reaching  reforms  did  not  contemplate 
any  immediate  amelioration  of  the  lot  of  the 
peasants  or  the  conditions  of  serfdom,  now  deter- 
mined to  send  Prince  Dolgorouki  to  force  these 
fugitives  to  return.  While  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don 
at  first  formally  submitted  to  the  authority  of  the 

lem  arising  through  the  capture  by  his  Cossacks  of  a 
Persian  princess  endowed  with  such  surpassing  beauty 
that  her  charms  threatened  to  distract  the  attention  of 
the  bandit  leader  from  his  sanguinary  duties,  and  even 
to  sow  discord  among  his  entire  troop.  In  order  to  re- 
move this  danger  to  his  "cause"  Stenka  consigned  his 
too-fascinating  spoil  of  the  Orient  to  a  watery  grave, 
greatly  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  followers  and  the  en- 
hancement of  his  own  popular  reputation. 


THE  STRUGGLE  FOR  THE  UKRAINE      101 

Tsar's  envoy,  they  privately  determined  in  solemn 
council  to  support  the  new  companions  who  had 
thus  loyally  sought  their  protection.  Dolgorouki 
at  first  met  with  little  opposition.  During  his  re- 
turn journey,  however,  while  encumbered  with 
troops  of  captives,  he  was  led  into  a  Cossack  ambush 
where  the  peasants  were  released  and  his  army  all 
but  destroyed.  The  fact  that  a  leader  in  this 
assault,  a  Cossack  named  Boulavin,  was  subse- 
quently elected  lietrnan,  added  a  fresh  provocation 
to  the  previous  conduct  of  the  Don  Cossacks. 

The  result  of  these  events  was  not  long  awaited. 
Peter,  realizing  that  any  weakness  he  might  show 
in  meeting  the  situation  might  end  in  a  general  re- 
volt of  the  provinces  of  the  Ukraine,  sent  another 
Prince  Dolgorouki  with  fresh  troops  to  revenge  his 
kinsman  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  "turbulent 
provinces  of  the  Don." 

"The  principal  mutineers,"  wrote  this  officer  a 
few  months  later  in  a  grim  report  addressed  to  the 
Emperor,  "have  been  hanged.  Of  their  companions 
one  in  every  ten  have  been  hanged;  all  of  those  I 
have  had  hanged  were  placed  upon  gibbets,  which  I 
erected  on  the  rafts  and  set  afloat,  so  that  along 
the  whole  course  of  the  river  they  might  serve  as 
an  example."* 

After  the  sanguinary  hint  offered  to  the  Cos- 
sacks of  the  Don,  the  Tsar  was  able  to  introduce 
his  favourite  methods  of  military  administration 

*  Rambaud,  "Histoire  de  Russie,"  page  300. 


102  THE  COSSACKS 

among  the  "settlements"  or  slovods  of  the  Don 
without  further  armed  resistance.  But  the  dis- 
content aroused  by  these  innovations  was  deep  and 
implacable. 

In  considering  the  "treason"  of  Mazeppa  and 
the  course  adopted  by  his  fellow  conspirators 
during  the  imj^ortant  events  about  to  be  narrated, 
the  unpopularity  of  these  reforms,  which  infringed 
some  of  the  most  cherished  privileges  assured  by 
the  Tsar's  predecessors  to  the  population  of  the 
Ukraine,  must  first  be  taken  into  account. 

The  historians  of  this  period  have  generally  been 
too  deeply  in  sympathy  with  the  reforming  policies 
of  Peter  the  Great  to  do  full  justice  to  the  Cossack 
cause.  The  actions  of  Mazeppa  and  his  Cossack 
followers  are  only  accounted  perfidious  obstacles  in 
the  pathway  of  Russia's  progress  towards  unifica- 
tion. There  is  nothing,  however,  in  the  history  of 
this  fateful  struggle,  wherein  the  defeat  of  a  couple 
of  mutinous  regiments  of  Cossacks  and  a  few 
thousand  exhausted  Swedish  veterans  actually  de- 
cided the  balance  of  power  in  the  north  —  to  show 
that  Mazeppa  acted  otherwise  than  as  a  disin- 
terested upholder  of  the  rights  and  national  priv- 
ileges of  his  adopted  comrades  in  arms. 

Consideration  of  the  part  played  by  the  Cossacks 
in  the  winter  campaign  of  Poltava,  throws  an  im- 
portant light  on  the  military  history  of  Charles 
XII.  Even  the  "Madman  of  the  North,"  in  spite 
of  his  over-confident    (not  to  say  vain-glorious) 


THE    STRUGGLE    FOR    THE    UKRAINE     103 

methods  of  strategy,  would  never  have  permitted 
his  army  to  be  drawn  so  far  from  its  base  of  sup- 
pHes  unless  the  assurance  of  Mazeppa  had  led  him 
to  suppose  that  a  discontented  "Free  Ukraine" 
party  were  ready  to  welcome  him  as  a  deliverer. 


CHAPTER  VI 

MAZEPPA 

TO  have  held  for  an  instant  the  balance  of  power 
in  the  momentous  struggle  which  fixed  the  su- 
premacy of  Russia  among  the  "Powers  of  the 
North";  to  lose  by  narrowest  chance  a  great  place 
in  history;  to  be  remembered  only  as  the  hero  of 
a  romantic  poem;  the  central  figure  of  a  popular 
opera,  —  such  has  been  the  strange  fate  of  the  Cos- 
sack hetrnan  Mazeppa !  * 

So  complete  was  the  downfall  of  the  great  Im- 
perial State  which  Sweden  had  planned  to  encircle 
the  Baltic  that  Charles  XII,  whom  Voltaire  calls 
the  leading  military  genius  of  his  time,  now  appears 
but  a  pale  and  legendary  figure  when  contrasted 
with  Peter  the  Great  —  the  mighty  rival  over  whom 
he  so  nearly  triumphed.  No  struggle  of  the 
eighteenth  Century  led  to  more  portentous  con- 
sequences than  the  winter  campaign  ending  in  the 
battle  of  Poltava. 

It  is  significant  in  view  of  present  events  to  con- 
sider the  part  played  by  the  Cossacks  of  the  Ukraine 
during  these  decisive  moments  in  the  world's  his- 

*  See  Tchaikowski's  "Mazeppa"  and  Byron's  poem  of 
the  same  name. 

104 


MAZEPPA  105 

tory.  Had  the  united  strength  of  the  Free  Cos- 
sacks and  the  Ukrainian  peasant-proprietors  been 
exercised  on  behalf  of  Charles  XII  rather  than  in 
favor  of  their  oppressor  the  Tsar,  there  is  little 
cause  to  doubt  that  a  great  Ukrainian  state  might 
have  arisen  on  the  steppes  of  South  Russia,  to  which 
the  less  favored  lands  of  "Great  Russia"  and  the 
forest  regions  to  the  north  would  perhaps  have  be- 
come tributary.  For  in  spite  of  their  relatively 
small  numbers  the  warlike  caste  of  the  Cossacks 
possessed  not  only  military  training  and  initiative 
but  also  a  strong  sense  of  loyalty  and  fellowship  in 
arms  lacldng  to  a  great  extent  among  the  moujiki 
comprising  Peter's  armies.  Had  Mazeppa  in  ad- 
dition to  his  mihtary  qualities  been  born  a  Cossack 
instead  of  belonging  to  the  hated  Polish  race,  he 
might  have  united  his  adopted  people  at  this  critical 
moment  of  their  career  to  face  Peter's  German-led 
and  German-drilled  troops.  Napoleon's  dictum 
that  Russia  is  destined  to  become  either  Cossack  or 
German  appears  all  the  more  plausible  in  the  light 
of  the  events  surrounding  the  invasion  of  Charles 
XII.  Indeed  the  French  emperor  —  a  close 
student  and  an  ardent  admirer  of  "the  Mad  King's" 
strategy  —  may  have  based  his  statement  upon  his 
appreciation  of  the  all  but  forgotten  yet  fateful 
events  which  we  shall  now  briefly  review. 

Contemporary  historians  (including  Voltaire, 
who,  however,  in  matters  of  history  scarcely  ex- 
hibits the   same  critical   spirit  that  won  him  so 


106  THE  COSSACKS 

great  a  reputation  in  his  discussion  of  religious 
questions)  agree  in  repeating  the  romantic  episode 
which  transformed  the  youthful  Mazeppa  from 
a  page  at  the  brilliant  Polish  court  into  a 
leader  of  the  rough  Cossack  bands  of  the  Ukraine. 

Their  accounts  are,  in  the  main,  identical  with 
the  circumstances  narrated  in  Byron's  famous 
poem.  Mazeppa  was  by  birth  a  Polish  noble  from 
the  province  of  Podolia.  Through  the  graces  of 
his  person  and  an  education  which  —  at  least  by 
comparison  —  distinguished  him  among  his  fellows, 
he  obtained  the  position  of  "serving  gentleman"  in 
the  household  of  a  rich  Polish  nobleman.  The 
young  wife  of  this  notable,  having  somewhat  over 
frankly  exhibited  her  admiration  for  Mazeppa's 
qualities,  the  outraged  husband  conceived  the  ven- 
geance which  effectually  removed  Mazeppa  from 
the  neighborhood  of  his  inamorata,  but  with  results 
far  different  from  those  planned  or  expected.  The 
handsome  page,  bound,  naked  and  defenceless,  on 
the  back  of  an  unbroken  stallion,  instead  of  suc- 
cumbing to  the  roving  wolves  of  the  steppes,  was 
carried  by  his  mount  among  a  herd  of  horses  be- 
longing to  a  camp  of  wandering  Cossacks.  Join- 
ing this  wild  company  the  youth  soon  found  him- 
self enrolled  a  member  of  the  band,  and  in  the 
course  of  a  few  months  his  education  and  personal 
bravery  gave  him  the  post  of  aide-de-camp  to  the 
hetman. 

At  this  point  the  legends  suiTounding  Mazeppa's 


MAZEPPA  107 

advent  among  the  Cossacks  give  place  to  more 
authentic  accounts.  A  few  years  later  we  find 
him  —  risen  in  turn  to  the  post  of  hetman  —  carry- 
ing on  a  series  of  forays  in  conjunction  with  Rus- 
sian troops  against  the  Tartars  of  the  Crimea. 
These  skirmishes  resulted  in  establishing  his  repu- 
tation, not  only  as  a  brilliant  and  successful  leader 
in  border  warfare,  but  also  as  a  dependable  instru- 
ment of  Russian  policy. 

During  the  first  siege  of  Azof,  Peter  the  Great 
first  learned  from  personal  observation  to  ai)pre- 
ciate  the  qualities  and  military  capabilities  of  his 
new  Cossack  subjects.  When  a  serious  check  to 
the  Russian  forces  occurred  before  that  strong 
fortress  in  1695,  it  was  the  mobility  and  resource 
of  the  Cossack  levies  under  Mazeppa  that  covered 
the  retreat  of  the  famous  "New  Armies"  organized 
by  the  Tsar  on  the  European  model.  The  Emperor 
or  "Bombardier  Peter,"  serving  at  the  time  in  their 
ranks  under  the  command  of  General  Lefort,  took 
part  in  all  the  hardships  of  this  retreat.  It  was, 
however,  through  such  defeats  that  every  military 
advantage  of  Peter  the  Great  was  to  be  obtained. 
The  faulty  strateg>^  which  had  failed  to  secure  his 
object  during  these  first  operations  was  cast  aside 
and  Peter  now  conceived  the  idea  of  capturing 
Azof  by  a  combined  sea  and  land  attack. 

On  the  upper  reaches  of  the  river  Don,  the  Tsar 
began  at  once  to  construct  his  armada,  consisting 
of    "twenty-two    galleys,    a    hundred    rafts    and 


108  THE  COSSACKS 

canoes"*  The  number  of  the  latter  craft  indicates 
that  the  part  played  by  the  Cossacks  and  notably 
the  Zaporogians  in  these  first  Russian  naval  oper- 
ations must  have  been  a  considerable  one.  Relying 
on  their  skill  as  river  boatmen  and  the  tactics  de- 
veloped during  many  a  raid  against  the  Turks  in 
the  Black  Sea,  they  were  now  launched  in  a  sudden 
attack  on  the  Tm*kish  fleet.  Less  than  1500  Cos- 
sacks manning  long  river-boats,  similar  to  those 
used  by  the  Zaporogians,  did  not  hesitate  to  attack 
the  great  Turkish  galleys  defending  the  com- 
munications by  means  of  which  the  beleaguered 
fortress  received  its  provisions  from  the  Turkish 
colonies  of  Anatolia. 

We  can  readily  imagine  with  what  enthusiasm 
and  anxiety  the  Tsar  followed  the  fortunes  of  the 
Cossack  attack.  Peter  was  himself  in  command  of 
a  small  wooden  frigate.  He  had  now  become 
"Steerman  Peter  Alexievitch,"  serving  under  the 
command  of  "Admiral"  Lefort  (for,  together  with 
the  principal  officers  of  his  staff  he  had  assumed 
naval  titles  and  duties ) .  Prodigies  of  valour  were 
displayed  in  the  hand  to  hand  conflict  which  en- 
sued. Little  by  little  the  surprising  manoeuvres  of 
the  handy  Cossack  flotilla  completely  overcame  the 
more  regular  naval  strategy  of  the  Turkish  com- 
mander. The  Ottoman  fleet  was  gradually  dis- 
persed and  the  heavy  galleys  —  separated  from 
their  fellows  and  rendered  helpless  —  were  cap- 

*  Rambaud,  "Histoire  de  Russie,"  p.  363, 


MAZEPPA  109 

tured  one  by  one.  This  wholly  unexpected  disaster 
cut  off  the  Turks  from  their  base  of  supplies  and 
gave  the  garrison  within  the  town  no  other  al- 
ternative but  to  raise  their  turbans  on  the  points  of 
long  lances  in  sign  of  surrender. 

Fifteen  hundred  ducats  were  accepted  (not,  we 
are  told  without  much  grumbling)  by  the  Cos- 
sacks instead  of  the  promised  right  of  sacking  the 
town.  Mazeppa  and  his  Cossack  boatmen  were 
personally  thanked  by  the  Tsar  —  the  latter  in  high 
good  humor  because  he  had  himself  been  promoted 
to  a  superior  grade  by  Lefort  for  the  part  he  had 
played  in  the  fight.  It  was  thus  as  actual  comrades 
in  arms  that  the  basis  of  the  long  friendship  be- 
tween the  Emperor  and  Mazeppa  was  formed. 

In  1705  Peter  carried  out  his  wholesale  execution 
of  the  streltid  —  the  privileged  but  undependable 
militia  of  the  old  Russian  court  —  a  terrible  re- 
quital for  their  disloyal  behaviour  during  his 
famous  European  tour.  Following  this  event  the 
Cossacks  became  a  more  important  factor  than 
ever  in  the  border  armies  of  Russia.  At  the  same 
time,  they  received  as  recruits  a  great  number  of 
streltzi  fleeing  from  Peter's  drastic  military  re- 
forms. This  new  element  was  in  all  probability 
largely  responsible  for  the  revolt  that  spread 
among  the  Don  Cossacks  in  the  following  year 
(1706). 

The  victories  of  Azof  and  the  conquest  of  the 
shores  of  the  Black  Sea  awakened  the  military  am- 


110  THE  COSSACKS 

bitions  of  Tsar  Peter.  Moreover  it  was  at  this 
juncture  that  the  King  of  Sweden  died  and  his  son 
Charles,  a  lad  but  18  years  of  age,  came  to  the 
throne.  In  the  accession  of  so  youthful  a  prince 
both  the  Tsar  and  the  King  of  Poland  saw  an  op- 
portunity of  ridding  themselves  of  a  rival  power 
whose  ambition  clashed  with  their  own.  The  po- 
sition occupied  by  Sweden  had  long  given  her  the 
control  of  the  Balance  of  Power  in  the  north.  In 
every  election  for  the  Polish  crown  the  King  of 
Sweden  had  either  sought  the  electoral  honor  for 
himself  or  had  made  his  support  essential  in 
choosing  the  successful  candidate. 

Another  reason  urged  Augustus  of  Saxony,  the 
newly  elected  King  of  Poland,  to  curb  the  hated 
"imperialism"  of  Sweden.  So  unpopular  was  this 
German  prince  in  his  elective  kingdom  that  he  wel- 
comed any  opportunity  for  a  foreign  war  which 
would  turn  the  attention  of  his  Slav  subjects  from 
internal  affairs.  Certain  of  victory  in  this  enter- 
prise he  even  took  steps  to  reserve  the  honors  of  the 
promised  campaign  for  the  detested  bodygviard  of 
German  troops  who  had  accompanied  him  from 
Saxony.  But  the  King  of  Poland  and  the  Tsar 
were  to  learn  that  Charles  of  Sweden,  in  spite  of  his 
youth,  was  the  first  military  genius  of  his  age  and 
that  he  commanded  the  most  perfectly  drilled  and 
disciplined  army  in  the  north. 

In  the  course  of  a  single  brilliant  campaign 
Charles  drove  the  King  of  Poland  from  the  prov- 


MAZEPPA  111 

ince  of  Lithuania.  The  Russians  who  had  mean- 
while advanced  towards  the  Baltic  were  thrown  into 
consternation  by  these  events.  At  his  leisure 
Charles  now  inflicted  upon  the  Tsar's  troops  a 
great  defeat  at  Narva.  This  victory,  the  more 
humiliating  because  even  Peter's  personal  braveiy 
was  involved  through  stories  of  his  cowardly  con- 
duct during  the  battle,  also  threatened  the  Rus- 
sians' confidence  in  the  value  of  the  military  re- 
forms he  had  been  at  so  much  pains  to  introduce  in 
place  of  their  old  drill  and  tactics.  Meanwhile, 
isolated  from  his  subjects  by  the  intrigues  of  Piper 
(Charles'  great  foreign  minister,  whose  diplomacy 
was  almost  as  redoubtable  as  his  master's  sword) 
the  King  of  Poland  had  become  a  dishonoured  fugi- 
tive in  his  own  dominions.  The  new  candidate  im- 
posed upon  the  Poles  in  the  person  of  Stanislaus 
Lesczynski  was  but  a  docile  representative  of  the 
real  King  —  Charles  of  Sweden. 

But  the  genius  of  Peter  the  Great  never  dis- 
played itself  so  brilliantly  as  after  these  disasters. 
"The  Swedes,"  he  repeated  again  and  again,  "will 
soon  teach  us  how  to  fight."  Gathering  a  new 
army  he  attempted  to  intervene  on  behalf 
of  the  deposed  Saxon  elector  Charles  easily 
crushed  their  united  efforts  at  Altranstadt  (1706). 
Even  the  electoral  dominions  of  Saxony  were  now 
threatened  and  Augustus,  in  order  to  save  his 
German  possessions,  was  obliged  formally  to  re- 
nounce all  pretensions  to  the  throne  of  Poland.    So 


112  THE  COSSACKS 

threatening  was  the  danger  that  he  consented 
at  the  bidding  of  Charles  to  write  a  letter  of  con- 
gratulation to  his  successor,  Lesczynski.  Peter 
nevertheless  resolved  to  continue  the  contest. 

In  the  long  struggle  between  Russia,  Poland  and 
Sweden  that  ensued,  success  almost  invariably  at- 
tended the  armies  of  Charles  XII.  During  this 
period  the  fortunes  of  Sweden  were  carried  to  their 
highest  pinnacle.  Historians  now  see  that  the 
"Mad  King's"  resolve  to  shatter  the  yoke  of  Mos- 
covite  influence  in  Poland  by  striking  at  the  heart 
of  Peter's  vast  empire,  was  more  than  a  military 
adventure.  The  success  of  such  a  plan  would  have 
safeguarded  the  new  Swedish  possessions  along  the 
Baltic  and  established  upon  a  lasting  foundation 
his  scheme,  now  all  but  realized,  of  making  Sweden 
the  supreme  arbiter  of  the  north. 

But  in  the  nine  years  which  had  elapsed  since 
the  battle  of  Narva,  Charles  had  expended 
Sweden's  hoarded  treasure  of  men  and  money. 
Raw  recruits  now  weakened  the  ranks  of  the  vet- 
eran regiments  he  had  inherited  from  his  father. 
Youthful  pride  and  obstinacy  had  induced  him  to 
discard  the  prudent  ministers  whose  advice  had 
been  of  such  advantage  in  the  earlier  years  of  his 
reign.  Charles  might,  with  every  advantage,  have 
accorded  the  peace  which  the  Tsar  so  earnestly  de- 
sired in  order  to  carry  out  his  great  plan  of  in- 
ternal reform.  He,  nevertheless,  continued  active 
preparations  for  a  new  campaign. 


MAZEPPA  113 

With  the  approach  of  the  invading  Swedish 
armies  twenty  thousand  Cossacks  were  summoned 
hy  Peter  to  join  in  the  defense  of  the  Ukraine.  His 
emissaries  found  the  Cossack  settlements  in  a  state 
of  almost  open  rebellion.  A  tax  of  seventy  kopecks 
(no  small  sum  of  money  in  that  day)  had  recently 
been  placed  upon  every  Cossack,  not  excepting 
those  who  were  performing  military  service  —  an 
act  bitterly  resented  as  an  infringement  of  the 
rights  they  had  been  assured  at  the  time  of  their 
voluntary  subjection  to  Russia.  In  Peter's  plans 
for  an  accurate  census  of  the  Ukraine  the  Cossacks 
saw  only  a  plan  for  fresh  taxations  and  even  more 
onerous  terms  of  military  service. 

By  thus  overriding  privileges  of  the  Ukraine, 
Peter  had  aroused  the  resentment  of  both  Cossack 
and  non-Cossack  inhabitants.  Both  classes  felt 
themselves  subjected  for  the  first  time  to  the  same 
treatment  as  the  despised  moujik  population  of 
Great  Russia  —  the  serfs  of  the  great  adminis- 
trative class  favored  by  Peter's  "reforms."  Ma- 
zeppa  as  hetman  of  the  Cossacks  of  the  Ukraine 
had  for  many  years  been  accorded  nearly  all  the 
honours  of  an  independent  prince.  Secure  in 
Peter's  favour,  which  he  had  enjoyed  ever  since 
the  siege  of  Azov,  he  had  looked  forward  in  his  old 
age  to  the  easy  enjoyment  of  this  lucrative  post. 
He  now  saw  himself  forced  to  take  sides  in  a 
quarrel  the  probable  outcome  of  which  would  only 
rivet    more    tightly    the    yoke    of    Russian    im- 


114  THE  COSSACKS 

perialism  on  the  inhabitants  of  the  Cossack  prov- 
inces. In  the  crisis  now  confronting  him  he  took 
refuge  in  a  time-honoured  ruse.  Although  a  half 
century  of  warlike  service  had  till  now  seemed  to 
weigh  but  lightly  upon  the  veteran  hetman,  at 
Peter's  summons  he  seemed  suddenly  overtaken  by 
all  the  ills  of  deferred  old  age.  For  weeks  at  a  time 
he  remained  in  bed  invisible  to  his  followers,  or  else, 
propped  in  a  great  chair,  supported  by  numerous 
cushions,  he  only  received  the  Cossack  officers  to 
accept  their  condolences  and  to  issue  orders  in  the 
feeble  voice  of  a  valetudinarian.  In  expiation  of 
past  sins  he  commenced  the  construction  of  a  great 
church,  and  to  his  former  boon  companions,  ex- 
pressed the  edifying  sentiment  that  "his  thoughts 
were  wholly  withdrawn  to  the  affairs  of  another 
hfe." 

Nevertheless,  in  careful  fulfillment  of  his  duties 
as  hetman  he  appeared  to  make  every  effort  to  fur- 
nish the  Tsar  with  the  levies  of  troops  required. 
These  were  placed  under  the  command  of  a  Cos- 
sack colonel  named  Apostol.  Although  all  these 
measures  were  taken  in  Mazeppa's  name  and  he 
appeared  zealously  preparing  to  oppose  the  in- 
vasion of  the  Swedes,  it  seems  equally  certain,  that 
at  the  same  time  constant  negotiations  were  carried 
on  with  the  emissaries  of  Charles.  Offers  of  free- 
dom and  autonomy  for  the  Ukraine  were  freely 
made  by  the  Swedish  monarch:  Mazeppa's  place 
was  assured  as  the  head  of  an  independent  state 


MAZEPPA  115 

guaranteed  by  the  armies  of  Charles.  At  last  the 
hetman  consented  to  enter  into  open  revolt  against 
the  Tsar.  In  order  to  act  with  more  certainty  he 
suddenly  quitted  his  role  of  an  invalid  and  placed 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  Cossack  armies.  Ap- 
pearing to  yield  to  the  urgent  appeals  of  the  Rus- 
sian generals,  he  ordered  all  his  polU  to  cross  the 
Polish  frontier.* 

Charles  does  not  appear  to  have  rated  very  high 
the  military  ability  of  the  troops  recruited  among 
the  Cossacks  and  peasant-proprietors  of  Little 
Russia.  He  was  anxious,  however,  to  secure  a 
base  for  supplies  for  his  own  armies  and  guides 
for  the  vast  unmapped  country  of  the  Ukraine, 
where  he  intended  to  develop  his  campaign.  Per- 
haps the  weakest  feature  of  Charles'  plans  was  his 
dangerous  confidence  in  the  ability  of  his  veterans 
to  overthrow  almost  any  number  of  Russian  troops 
which  could  be  brought  against  him.  But  as  the 
Cossack  polld  were  only  needed  as  auxiliaries,  Ma- 
zeppa  was  instructed  to  maintain  his  fellow 
countrjTnen  in  a  state  of  "discontent"  —  a  none 
too  difficult  task!!  —  without  definitely  engaging 
himself  until  the  last  moment. 

The  hetman's  position  was,  however,  soon  com- 

*  Norberg's  "History  of  Charles  XII."  Nothing  in  the 
history  of  the  time  is  more  confusing  than  the  numbers 
given  with  respect  to  the  troops  engaged  during  this  cam- 
paign. Even  Norberg,  although  an  eye-witness  of  the 
events  he  describes,  cannot  be  wholly  relied  upon. 


116  THE  COSSACKS 

plicated  by  the  constant  reports  which  his  rivals 
forwarded  to  the  capital  in  order  to  convince  the 
Tsar  of  his  disloyalty.  At  first  Peter  was  deaf  to 
all  such  rumours,  believing  that  Mazeppa  in  his  old 
age  would  never  betray  a  confidence  he  had  done 
so  much  to  deserve.  As  a  fresh  proof  of  his  belief 
in  the  hetman's  loyalty  the  Tsar  sent  back  to  the 
Ukraine  bound  in  heavy  chains,  the  principal 
agents  of  the  malcontents  who  had  undertaken 
the  long  journey  to  Moscow  in  order  to  denounce 
their  chief.  Thus  perished  two  of  the  hetman's 
oldest  comrades  in  arms,  I  ska,  a  colonel  of  the  Cos- 
sacks of  Poltava,  devoted  to  the  cause  of  Russia, 
and  Koutchebey,  chief  of  one  of  the  most  important 
families  of  the  Ukraine.  These  chieftains  who  had 
been  the  first  to  discern  Mazeppa's  intended 
treachery,  would  have  been  spared  by  the  hetman 
if  they  would  join  his  side,  but  scorning  to  save 
their  lives  at  such  a  cost,  both  were  now  put  to  a 
shameful  death  with  heavy  blows  from  a  poleaxe 
before  the  assembled  polk  and  their  own  fellow 
townsmen.* 

For  a  brief  time  Mazeppa  appears  again  to  have 
wavered,  perhaps  touched  by  this  display  of  loyal 
confidence  on  the  part  of  a  master  he  was  a'bout  to 
betray.  In  his  indecision  he  decided  to  summon  a 
council  of  the  Cossack  notables,  and  himself  pro- 
posed that  a  deputation  be  sent  to  Moscow  to  lay 

*  The  above  events  are  the  subject  of  a  famous  scene 
in  Tchaikowski's  opera  of  "Mazeppa." 


MAZEPPA  117 

before  the  Tsar  the  grievances  of  the  Ukraine.  But 
Peter,  growing  suddenly  suspicious,  appears  to 
have  acted  at  this  critical  moment  with  the  hasty 
violence  which  so  often  marred  his  statesmanship. 
His  reply  to  the  Cossack  representatives  was  to 
throw  into  prison  the  entire  deputation,  at  whose 
head  the  hetman  had  placed  his  favourite  nephew. 
At  the  same  time  one  of  the  Tsar's  ablest  generals, 
Mentchikov,  commanding  the  Russian  troops 
stationed  in  Cossack  territory,  received  strict 
orders  to  spare  no  effort  to  prevent  any  com- 
munication between  the  Swedes  and  Poles. 

The  tenor  of  these  orders  persuaded  Ma- 
zeppa  that  his  treacherous  negotiations  were  known 
and  he  could  hesitate  no  longer  without  endanger- 
ing his  own  safety.  Placing  garrisons  chosen  from 
the  Cossacks  of  his  faction  in  Romni,  Tchernigov 
and  Baturnin  —  thus  securing  important  strategic 
points  protecting  his  rear  —  he  now  advanced  into 
Poland  to  join  the  Swedish  armies,  although  keep- 
ing his  intentions  secret  from  those  of  his  followers 
of  whose  loyalty  he  had  reason  to  be  doubt- 
ful. On  the  shores  of  the  Desna,  he  drew  up  his 
entire  army  in  a  hollow  square  and  in  an  impas- 
sioned harangue  set  forth  their  common  wrongs. 
Appealing  to  the  loyalty  of  the  Cossack  nation,  he 
made  the  most  of  Peter's  conduct  respecting  the 
ominous  military  reforms,  recalling  the  Tsar's  con- 
tempt for  the  agreements  which,  since  the  days  of 
the  Hetman  Bogdan,  had  united  Moscow  and  the 


lis  The  COSSACKS 

Ukraine.  But  Mazeppa  had  either  miscalculated 
the  resentment  which  had  been  aroused  by  these 
measures,  or,  as  appears  more  likely,  the  Cossacks 
hesitated  to  ally  themselves  with  their  ancient 
enemy,  Poland.  When  thus  called  upon  to  forego 
at  a  few  moments'  notice  the  traditions  and  resent- 
ments of  a  life-time,  they  may  have  remembered 
that  Mazeppa  himself  was  of  Polish  origin.  Their 
turbulent  Orthodoxy  caused  them  to  recall  all  that 
their  ancestors  had  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the 
Catholic  gentry  and  Jesuit  leaders  of  the  Polish 
court.  The  result  of  Mazeppa's  ill-timed  frank- 
ness was  far  different  from  his  expectations. 
At  first  a  grim  silence  greeted  his  eloquence,  while 
murmurs  of  disapproval  followed  each  new  pro- 
posal. As  he  ended  his  appeal  to  Cossack  preju- 
dice, cries  of  "Treason"  were  heard  on  all  sides. 
In  the  uproar  that  followed  Mazeppa  even  ap- 
pears to  have  had  some  difficulty  in  escaping  from 
the  violence  of  the  Russian  partisans  among  his 
excited  followers. 

With  but  two  regiments  remaining  loyal,  both 
belonging  to  his  personal  guard,  his  "invasion"  of 
Poland  became  little  better  than  a  flight  from  the 
Ukraine.  Of  all  the  "host"  of  Cossack  cavalry 
with  whom  he  had  promised  to  await  his  allies  upon 
the  shores  of  the  Desna  there  remained  but  a  hand- 
ful of  horsemen,  while  the  main  body  of  the 
Ukrainians  and  Cossacks  returned  homewards  to 
make  their  submission  to  the  Tsar's  generals. 


MAZEPPA  119 

One  consolation  remained,  however,  to  Mazeppa 
in  his  extremity.  The  famous  Zaporogian  Cos- 
sacks were  by  this  time  too  deeply  compromised  by 
the  wily  hetman's  intrigues  to  desert  his  cause  and 
they  now  set  forth  in  their  usual  tumultuous  array 
to  join  JNIazeppa's  little  army. 

Realizing  the  importance  of  ensuring  the  loyalty 
of  this  important  part  of  the  Cossack  community, 
the  Tsar  had  in  the  early  stages  of  the  events  just 
narrated  forwarded  a  present  of  sixty  thousand 
florins  to  the  sitch.  It  had,  however,  pleased  the 
independent  hmiiour  of  these  warriors  to  keep  the 
money  sent  by  the  Russians  and  at  the  same  time  to 
declare  for  Charles  and  his  Polish  allies.  In  the 
pages  of  Norberg's  History  a  full  accoimt  is  given 
of  these  negotiations,  wherein  the  customs  of  the 
once  famous  Zaporogian  brotherhood  appear  in  no 
very  creditable  light.  Their  "war"  leader,  or 
koshevoy  ataman,  was,  at  this  time,  a  Cossack 
named  Gordianko.  This  worthy  had  but  a  short 
time  before  narrowly  escaped  massacre  in  the 
course  of  the  tumultuous  public  assembly  which 
had  elected  him  to  his  office  —  a  fact  for  which  he 
held  the  envoys  of  the  Tsar  responsible.  It  was 
the  recollection  of  this  incident  which  may  have 
disposed  him  so  warmly  to  adopt  the  cause  of  the 
Hetman  Mazeppa.  At  a  meeting  held  in  a  secret 
spot  on  the  shore  of  the  Dikanka  the  temporary 
submission  of  the  Zaporogians  to  the  Hetman  of  the 
Ukraine  had  been  agi-eed  upon.     The  horse-tail 


120  THE  COSSACKS 

standards  of  the  Zaporogians  had  been  dipped  be- 
fore the  national  flag  of  the  Ukraine,  and  Mazeppa 
in  an  eloquent  speech  pointed  out  the  necessity  of 
an  alliance  against  the  Tsar.  In  order  formally  to 
celebrate  the  accession  of  the  Zaporogians  to  the 
"Cossack  cause"  a  banquet  was  now  served  to  the 
delegates  from  the  sitcJi.  Around  a  board  fur- 
nished with  a  magnificent  service  of  silver  plate 
(borrowed  for  the  occasion  from  a  Polish  gentle- 
man among  Mazeppa's  retinue)  the  Zaporogians 
renewed  their  solemn  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  cause 
of  Charles  XII  and  the  Polish  party  with  whom  he 
was  in  alliance.  On  leaving  the  tent  where  these 
ceremonies  had  taken  place  the  Zaporogian  dele- 
gates were  found  to  be  in  a  state  of  complete 
drunkenness.  Some  of  the  more  intoxicated  even 
insisted  on  taking  away  the  silver  plates  and  gob- 
lets as  a  souvenir  of  the  occasion  saying  that  this 
was  a  Zaporogian's  privilege.  An  unfortunate 
butler  in  an  ill-advised  attempt  to  save  his  master's 
property  aroused  the  anger  of  these  turbulent 
guests  and  was  seized  and  stabbed  to  death.  Not 
content  with  thus  vindicating  their  injured  dignity, 
the  noble  Zaporogians  now  declared  through  their 
Koshevoy  that  if  they  were  not  allowed  to  keep  this 
spoil,  according  to  ancient  custom,  they  would  im- 
mediately break  off  the  newly-formed  union  to 
which  they  had  engaged  their  followers.  The 
matter  was  satisfactorily  arranged,  but  during  a 
subsequent  interview  with  the  King  of  Sweden  it 


MAZEPPA  121 

was  considered  wise  to  exact  a  promise  from  the 
Zaporogian  envoys  to  "refrain  from  getting  drunk 
before  the  banquet."  It  was  upon  the  caprice  of 
such  allies  that  Charles  depended  to  overthrow  the 
power  of  Peter  the  Great  !* 

*  A  strange  survival  of  "Cossack  law"  has  just  come 
to  light  through  an  incident  connected  with  the  recent 
allied  occupation  of  Archangel.  Under  the  date  of  April 
5th,  1919,  the  New  York  Times  printed  the  foUowino- 
cablegram : 

"Archangel,  April  5,  1919  (Associated  Press). — 
The  theft  of  4,000,000  rubles  that  were  in  possession  of 
the  Bolsheviki  by  a  band  of  Circassian  Cossack  officers 
whose  activities  also  included  the  arrest  of  the  American 
Consul  at  Archangel  and  the  kidnapping  of  the  North 
Russian  Government,  was  explained  at  the  trial  of  the 
officers  today  before  the  supreme  judiciary  authority  of 
Northern  Russia.  The  officers,  among  whom  were  Cap- 
tain Bers  and  Colonel  Melia,  were  convicted  and  sen- 
tenced to  imprisonment  and  deprivation  of  their  rank 
and  decorations.  Because  of  their  military  valor  the 
court  recommended  that  they  be  pardoned. 

*'The  defendants  unfolded  an  astonishing  story  of  the 
inner  details  of  the  days  before  the  allied  troops  landed 
at  Archangel  and  the  political  plots  that  occurred  after- 
ward. They  admitted  nearly  every  accusation,  pleading 
old  Cossack  laws  and  the  political  situation  as  justifica- 
tion. 

"Last  July,  when  an  allied  landing  at  Archangel  seemed 
imminent.  Captain  Bers  and  the  other  Cossacks  were 
aligned  with  the  Bolsheviki.  As  the  allied  transports  ap- 
proached the  city  the  bulk  of  the  Bolshevist  force  fled, 
but  Bers  and  the  Cossacks  remained  behind  as  did  Colonel 


122  THE  COSSACKS 

In  the  meantime,  Mentchikov,  the  Tsar*s 
favom-ite,  had  not  been  idle.  As  we  have  already- 
observed  the  Russian  troops  had  for  some  time  been 
preparing  for  the  not  unexpected  defection  of  Ma- 
zeppa  and  the  Zaporogians.  Shortly  after  the  het- 
mans  departure,  Mazeppa  learned  that  his  own 
household,  together  with  all  the  provisions  he  had 
amassed  there  for  the  winter  campaign  of  the 
Swedish  army,  had  been  captured  by  a  brilHant 
Russian  attack.  To  serve  as  an  example  the  Cos- 
sack notables  of  the  town  were  put  to  death  by 
Mentchikov  with  every  refinement  of  cruelty.    On 

Potapoff,  the  Bolshevist  commander,  who  was  arrested 
later. 

"Captain  Bers  seized  the  safe  containing  the  Bolshevist 
war  fund  of  4,000,000  rubles.  Then,  with  Colonel  Pota- 
poff, the  Cossacks  arrested  the  American  Consul,  Felix 
Cole ;  the  British  and  French  Consuls,  and  the  French 
Military  Mission.  The  allied  officials  were  taken  to  a 
barn  and  hidden,  the  Cossacks  holding  them  and  the  money 
as  hostages  until  something  definite  happened. 

"When  the  allies  landed  and  the  local  counter-revolution 
broke  out  almost  simultaneously  on  Aug.  1  and  2,  the 
Consuls  were  released.  The  Cossacks,  however,  after 
declaring  themselves  ready  to  support  the  new  Govern- 
ment claimed  that  they  were  secretly  against  the  Bol- 
sheviki  throughout. 

Needless  to  add,  such  appeals  to  "old  Cossack  Law" 
would  have  little  standing  in  the  Cossack  territories  — 
although  wild  bands  like  the  Siberian  border  ruffians  led 
by  General  Senenov  —  "Cossacks"  in  name  only  —  might 
resort  to  such  a  plea. 


MAZEPPA  12S 

the  same  scaffold  perished  a  famous  Cossack  colonel 
named  Glutchov  and  a  Prussian  officer  named 
Koenigseck  who  had  acted  as  the  Cossack  Chief  of 
Artillery.  At  the  same  time  an  effigy  of  Ma- 
zeppa  was  vicariously  "tortured"  and  solemnly  de- 
graded from  the  rank  of  hetman  while  a  cross  of 
St.  Andrew  was  torn  from  the  mannikin's  breast. 
A  more  effectual  punishment  than  this  childish 
mummery  was  the  solemn  anathema  launched 
against  the  hetman  by  the  metropolitan  of  Kiev,  a 
terrible  indictment  which  included  all  the  Orthodox 
Cossacks  who  were  fighting  with  the  heretics 
against  the  head  of  the  Russian  church. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  rebellious  Donskoi,  the 
lacerated  bodies  of  the  most  important  of  Ma- 
zeppa's  adherents  were  placed  on  rafts  and  sent 
adi'ift  on  the  Dnieper,  so  that  the  news  of  the  Tsar's 
vengeance  might  be  spread  along  the  whole  course 
of  that  stream. 

At  the  famous  battle  of  Poltava,  whose  course 
and  the  momentous  results  it  entailed  have  so  often 
been  described,  the  Cossack  nation  again  found 
itself  hopelessly  divided.  The  majority  of  the  Cos- 
sacks and  "free  citizens"  of  the  Ukraine  fought 
under  the  banners  of  the  Tsar,  their  oppressor.  On 
the  side  of  Charles  XII  the  Zaporogians  and  the 
hetman' s  faithful  regiments  disting-uished  them- 
selves in  a  last  vain  blow  for  the  liberties  of  the 
Ukraine.  But  the  aniiies  of  Sweden,  mitil  now 
victorious  against  Russian  troops,  were  for  the  first 


124  THE  COSSACKS 

time  definitely  defeated.  The  Tsar's  troops, 
thoroughly  drilled  after  the  European  model  and 
his  generals  schooled  in  adversity,  were  at  last  able 
to  prove  their  worth  and  the  value  of  Peter's  pa- 
tient training.  Russia's  natural  allies,  cold  and 
distance,  added  completeness  to  a  defeat  which  an- 
ticipated the  appalling  disaster  which  overtook 
Napoleon  a  centur}'  later.  Russia,  not  Sweden,  be- 
came the  preponderant  power  in  the  north  of 
Europe,  while,  except  for  sporadic  mutinies,  little 
more  was  heard  of  the  '"liberties  of  the  Ukraine" 
until  the  present  day.* 

*  'Tt  was  the  recollection  of  Xarva  that  caused  Charles 
to  lose  the  battle  of  Poltava.  At  daybreak  twenty-one 
thousand  confident  Swedes  attacked  the  Russian  forces 
taking  with  them  but  four  pieces  of  artillery.  The  King 
in  person  conducted  the  attack,  lying  in  a  htter  drawn  by 
two  horses  on  account  of  the  wound  he  had  received  a 
few  days  before.  Slipenbak's  famous  cavalry  charged  the 
enemy  with  great  courage.  The  Muscovite  formations 
were  driven  in  and  the  Tsar  who  had  himsdf  hurried  to 
rally  them  received  a  bullet  through  his  hat. 

**iIentchikov  had  three  horses  killed  under  him  —  and 
already  the  Swedish  troopers  raised  a  shout  of  victory." 

Shortly  after,  during  the  Russian  counterattack,  the 
two  horses  carrying  the  wounded  chief  of  the  Swedish 
forces  were  killed  by  a  voUey  of  grape  shot,  and  their 
place  was  taken  by  24  infantrymen  —  21  of  whom  were 
shot  down  before  the  close  of  the  engagement.  Indeed 
the  personal  courage  of  both  the  Tsar  (serving  with  the 
simple  title  of  Major-general  under  General  Sheremetiev) 
and  Charles  was  displayed  to  every  advantage,  in  their 
terrible  duel  for  supremacy. 


MAZEPPA  125 

The  conduct  of  Mazeppa,  whose  miscalculations 
had  destroyed  one  of  the  chief  factors  upon  which 
Charles'  strategy'  had  been  based,  now  gives  the  lie 
to  those  who  see  in  his  character  only  the  acts  of  a 
finished  opportunist.  Accompanied  by  some  three 
thousand  Cossacks,  Mazeppa  and  Charles  (who,  in 
spite  of  an  agonizing  wound  had  directed  the  battle 
from  a  bed  borne  on  a  Htter  of  pikes)  fled  towards 
Turkey.  The  indomitable  spirit  of  the  "Lion  of 
the  Xorth"  still  dreamed  of  rallying  Sweden's 
broken  armies.  His  plan  was  now  to  join  the 
troops  of  General  Loewenhaupt,  who  were  waiting 
the  king's  arrival  somewhere  on  the  Bessarabian 
border.     On  the  shores  of  the  Dnieper,  the  fugi- 

Charles  seems  to  have  based  his  strategic  plan  upon  a 
flank  attack  by  the  main  force  of  his  «avalry  under  Gen- 
eral Creutz,  but  this  officer  lost  himself  in  the  steppes 
during  the  night  and  was  absent  at  the  critical  moment, 
enabling  the  Tsar  to  raUy  his  shattered  legions,  and  to 
turn  upon  the  broken  formation  of  Slipenbak's  rictorious 
reiters.  At  the  same  time  Prince  Mentchikov  cleveriy 
manoeuvred  his  forces  between  the  Swedes  and  their  base 
at  Poltava,  thus  cutting  them  effectually  from  their  re- 
inforcements. Later  in  the  day,  this  town  was  captured, 
and  a  nmnber  of  officers,  including  Charles'  great  ^linister 
Piper,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Muscovites.  "\Mien  all 
appeared  lost  —  the  wounded  Charies  was  placed  upon 
a  horse  by  the  Polish  Colonel  Poniatowski  —  and  escorted 
bv  a  few  dragoons  and  Cossacks,  fled,  more  dead  than 
ahve,  from  the  scene  of  this  decisive  blow  to  Sweden's 
greatness.  (For  a  full  accoimt  of  the  battle  of  Poltava 
see  Voltaire's  "History  of  Charles  XII,"  pp.  199  et  seq.) 


126  THE  COSSACKS 

lives  were  thrust  by  their  followers  into  a  leaky 
boat  and  with  an  escort  of  about  a  dozen  men 
abandoned  to  the  swollen  stream.  Such  was  their 
peril  that,  in  order  to  save  themselves  from  sinking, 
the  greater  part  of  the  hetman's  treasure  was 
thrown  into  the  river. 

At  the  same  time  a  terrible  fate  overtook  a  large 
body  of  Swedish  and  Cossack  cavalry  who  sought 
to  cross  the  flooded  Dnieper  by  swimming  their 
horses  in  a  compact  mass,  following  the  methods  of 
the  ancient  Tartar  invaders.  Near  the  middle  of 
the  river  this  living  raft  became  broken  apart  and 
the  struggling  horsemen  met  a  terrible  death  among 
the  rocks  and  rapids.  Swept  along  by  the  ice 
floes  of  the  treacherous  stream  their  bodies  accom- 
panied the  flight  of  their  chief  and  the  Hetman  Ma- 
zeppa  towards  their  exile  in  Turkish  territory. 

A  few  days  later  the  fugitive  learned  of  the  de- 
feat of  the  army  commanded  by  Loewenhaupt. 
Continually  pressed  by  Mentchikov's  cavalry  this 
general  had  finally  been  forced  to  surrender; 
fourteen  thousand  veteran  Swedes  laying  down 
their  arms  to  less  than  nine  thousand  Russians. 
The  days  when  Charles'  troops,  as  at  Narva, 
had  not  hesitated  to  attack  a  force  of  Russians 
double  or  treble  their  own  strength  were  ended. 
This  victory  was  a  final  disaster  to  the  Cossack 
faction  devoted  to  Mazeppa.  JMentchikov  refused 
to  include  in  the  armistice  and  terms  of  surrender 
any    amnesty   for   the    Cossack   partisans    found 


MAZEPPA  l2r 

among  the  Swedish  armies.  All  who  could  not  es- 
cape were  massacred  on  the  river  bank  "within 
sight  of  their  fatherland,"  *  while  the  rest,  accord- 
ing to  the  Tsar's  orders,  were  relentlessly  hunted 
down  "in  their  lairs." 

After  this  execution  only  three  thousand  Zap- 
orogian  warriors  remained  of  all  that  famous 
brotherhood.  On  the  approach  of  the  Tsar's 
troops,  these  were  forced  to  seek  shelter  among 
their  ancient  enemies  the  Turks.  Realizing  the 
value  of  such  allies  the  Khan  of  the  Crimean  Tar- 
tars welcomed  them  in  his  camp,  in  spite  of  the 
wrong  they  had  done  his  territory  in  the  past.  In 
order  to  show  the  Russians  that  they  had  definitely 
passed  under  Ottoman  protection  he  conferred 
upon  Mazeppa  and  the  Zaporogian  Hetman  Gordi- 
anko  the  insignia  of  Turkish  generals.  Lands  were 
also  set  apart  for  the  Zaporogians  on  the  shores  of 
the  Koninke,  where  in  ancient  time  the  sitch  or 
encampment  of  the  free  republic  had  been 
located.** 

The  unfortunate  hetman,  Mazeppa,  did  not  long 
survive  his  disgrace.  With  the  feeble  Cossack  es- 
cort which  had  remained  faithful  to  his  cause  he 
took  refuge    (still  accompanied  by  the  King  of 

*  Lesur,  p.  116. 

**  The  Zaporogians  were,  however,  so  reduced  in  num- 
bers that  they  were  not  able  to  resist  the  attacks  of  the 
Russians  and  soon  found  themselves  obliged  to  retire 
farther  into  the  Crimea. 


128  THE  COSSACKS 

Sweden)  at  Bender  under  the  protection  of  the 
Sultan  of  Turkey.  Here  his  last  days  were  con- 
stantly troubled  by  the  fear  that  he  might  be  de- 
livered up  to  the  agents  of  the  Tsar.  For  losing 
sight  of  more  immediate  advantages,  Peter  now 
showed  liimself  determined  to  secure  the  person  of 
the  old  comrade  in  arms  who  had  so  traitorously 
deserted  him.  But  the  Ottoman  Sultan,  in  spite  of 
bribes  of  money  and  offers  even  more  advanta- 
geous, remained  loyal  to  the  Cossack  chieftain.  In 
their  misfortune,  a  warm  friendship  appears  to 
have  united  Mazeppa  and  the  fallen  hero  Charles. 
All  through  the  last  illness  of  the  former  hetman, 
the  young  monarch  continued  to  encourage  the 
dying  veteran  with  hopes  of  future  success  and 
revenge.  Although  Charles  after  a  series  of  ex- 
traordinary adventures  was  at  last  restored  to  his 
native  land,  Mazeppa  was  unable  to  bear  the  double 
weight  of  years  and  misfortune.  At  the  age  of 
eighty  he  died  in  the  Turkish  camp  without  learn- 
ing of  the  disaster  which  soon  after  overtook  his 
gi-eat  enemy  the  Tsar,  in  the  full  tide  of  his  suc- 
cess at  the  battle  of  the  Pruth. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  END  OF  THE  FREE  UKRAINE: 
LITTLE  RUSSIA 

NOT  the  least  important  result  of  the  battle  of 
Poltava  was  the  subjection  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  Free  Ukraine  to  the  will  of  the  Russian 
crown.  Although  a  majority  of  the  Cossack  inhab- 
itants had  refused  to  follow  the  lead  of  Mazeppa 
and  might,  therefore,  have  maintained  in  all  fair- 
ness their  rights  to  a  continuation  of  the  old  privi- 
leges, the  determination  of  Peter  the  Great  to  carry 
out  his  unifying  reforms  soon  set  definite  bounds  to 
the  autonomy  of  the  "settlements." 

Even  those  most  loyal  to  the  Russian  alliance 
could  not  see  without  sorrow  the  abrogation  of  priv- 
ileges which  dated  from  the  days  of  Bogdan.  More- 
over, even  in  the  most  Russianized  districts, 
the  Tsar's  suspicion  of  these  turbulent,  half -alien 
subjects  soon  led  to  further  vexations  and  laws 
restricting  their  ancient  Cossack  liberties. 

Peter's  first  act,  after  a  strong  military  occupa- 
tion had  secured  the  imperial  hold,  was  to  require 
of  the  hetman  and  the  principal  Cossack  dignitaries 
an  oath  of  allegiance  identical  in  form  to  that  im- 
posed upon  the  majority  of  his  subjects.    Hence- 

129 


130  THE  COSSACKS 

forth  the  Tsar  was  legally  "Autocrat"  and  the 
Ukraine  became  officially  known  by  the  hateful 
title  as  "the  Province  of  Little  Russia." 

At  the  same  time  a  demand  was  made  upon  each 
of  the  Cossack  polki  or  regiments  for  a  contingent 
of  men  to  be  incorporated  among  the  troops  of  the 
Russian  army.  By  this  means  it  was  clearly  indi- 
cated that  the  Cossacks  of  the  Ukraine  were  now 
considered  liable  to  regular  mihtary  service  like 
any  other  subjects  of  the  empire.  This  policy  also 
effectually  weakened  the  power  of  resistance  which 
the  regiments  furnished  by  the  stanitzi  might  have 
opposed  to  Peter's  "reforms"  had  they  remained 
at  their  full  strength. 

In  order  to  accentuate  the  changes  which  the  old 
"Free  Cossack"  regime  had  suffered  separate 
courts  of  justice  were  established  at  Joukhoff  to 
administer  the  new  Russian  law  instead  of  the  old 
Cossack  law  based  upon  the  "Institutes  of  Magde- 
burg." The  only  appeal  from  this  tribunal  lay  in 
the  courts  of  the  empire  and  not,  as  heretofore,  in 
the  great  Cossack  reunions  or  the  Council  of  Elders 
of  each  stanitza. 

Meanwhile,  in  his  camp  at  Bender,  sometimes 
treated  by  the  Turk  as  a  distinguished  prisoner, 
again  consulted  as  an  ally,  Charles  XII  continued 
his  intrigues  against  the  Tsar  and  his  vehement  ap- 
peals to  the  powers  of  Europe  to  be  allowed  to 
return  to  his  kingdom. 

After  the  death  of  Mazeppa,  Charles  had  con- 


THE  END  OF  THE  FREE  UKRAINE        131 

tinued  on  terms  of  friendly  intimacy  with  Peter 
Orlick,  who  had  been  elected  Hetman  of  the  Zap- 
orogians.  The  new  chief  of  the  former  Free  Re- 
public was  now  wholly  under  the  influence  of  his 
Turkish  patrons.  Although  such  base  sycophancy 
offended  the  turbulent  orthodoxy  of  his  compan- 
ions, Orlick  affected  even  the  dress  of  the  Ottoman 
protectors.  In  order  to  make  his  position  more 
secure,  he  also  married  a  Tartar  woman  chosen  in 
the  seraglio  of  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea.  His  con- 
duct could  not  fail  to  widen  the  breach  which  al- 
ready existed  between  the  Zaporogians  and  the 
Cossacks  of  the  Ukraine. 

But  Peter  still  \iewed  with  suspicion  the  border 
population  of  his  new  province.  Any  Cossack  sus- 
pected of  intercourse  with  the  Zaporogians  was 
cruelly  put  to  death  or  transported  to  the  pestilen- 
tial marshes  of  Lake  Ladoga,  where  tremendous 
drainage  works  were  in  progress  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  new  capital.  This  harsh  treatment 
aroused  widespread  discontent  throughout  the 
Ukraine,  and  aware  of  this  spirit  of  revolt,  both  the 
Turks  and  Zaporogians  were  encouraged  to  at- 
tempt once  more  an  invasion  of  the  Russian 
frontier. 

In  furtherance  of  this  scheme,  the  diplomats  of 
the  Porte  and  the  Grand  Vizir  of  the  Khan  of  Tar- 
tary  pretended  to  treat  the  Zaporogians  as  an  in- 
dependent power.  In  a  manifesto  widely  distrib- 
uted among  the  villages  of  the  old  Ukraine  the 


132  THE  COSSACKS 

Cossacks  were  called  upon  to  return  to  their  Polish 
allegiance.  The  Turks  not  only  promised  to  re- 
establish the  rights  of  the  Zaporogians,  but  also 
offered  to  assist  the  Cossack  settlements  along  the 
upper  Dnieper  to  regain  their  former  freedom,  if 
they  would  openly  resist  the  oppressions  and  ex- 
actions of  the  Russians. 

An  expedition  was  next  set  on  foot  by  the  Porte 
wherein  thirty  thousand  picked  Tartar  and  Turkish 
troops  were  to  join  with  Orlick  and  his  Zaporo- 
gians in  an  invasion  of  the  Russian  and  Polish 
Ukraine.  In  the  same  army  was  included  a  con- 
tingent of  Poles  disaffected  by  the  Tsar's  treat- 
ment of  their  country,  under  the  leadership  of  a 
powerful  noble  of  the  ancient  house  of  Pototski. 

During  this  skilfully  planned  political-military 
campaign  —  wherein  the  diplomacy  of  Charles  is 
plainly  visible  —  orders  were  given  to  spare  the 
Poles  and  Cossacks  of  the  invaded  districts  while 
punishing  without  mercy  the  Russian  troops  and 
their  adherents.  This  scheme,  however,  did  not 
coincide  with  the  time-honoured  methods  employed 
by  the  Tartars  in  their  warfare.  The  subjects  of 
the  Khan  and  the  even  less  disciplined  Zaporo- 
gians soon  began  to  indulge  their  talents  for  ruth- 
less pillage,  and  following  a  few  slight  military 
successes  in  the  beginning  of  the  campaign,  the 
allied  armies  dispersed  in  search  of  plunder.  This 
enabled  these  scattered  bands  to  be  easily  defeated 
by  regular  Russian  troops  under  Prince  Galitzine 


THE  END  OF  THE  FREE  UKRAINE        133 

near  Kiev.  Their  losses  in  battles  and  skirmishes 
are  placed  as  high  as  five  thousand. 

While  the  Zaporogians  and  their  Cossack  allies 
were  thus  wasting  a  last  opportunity  to  recover  the 
freedom  of  the  Ukraine,  a  body  of  picked  Tartar 
troops,  under  the  command  of  the  Khan  in  person, 
succeeded  in  penetrating  in  a  compact  mass  to  the 
heart  of  Russian  territory  as  far  as  Vorentz.  The 
horrors  of  this  invasion,  recalling  the  excesses  of  the 
Tartar  hordes  under  Batu  Khan,  ralhed  many  dis- 
tricts wavering  in  their  loyalty  to  Peter's  standard. 
The  principal  military  result  of  the  expedition  was 
obtained  at  Samara,  where  the  Khan  succeeded  in 
destroying  the  Russian  shipyards  and  a  half -built 
flotilla,  by  means  of  which  the  Tsar  had  planned 
to  descend  the  river  Dnieper  in  an  attempt  to 
transfer  the  seat  of  war  to  the  frontier  of  the  Otto- 
man dominions.  This  feat  of  arms  was  probably 
responsible  in  part  for  the  disastrous  results  of  the 
famous  Pruth  campaign,  upon  which  Peter  now 
embarked  at  the  instance  of  the  Hospodars  of  the 
Christian  provinces  of  Moldavia  and  Wallachia. 

The  events  of  this  strange  crusade,  the  most 
critical  incident  in  Peter's  career,  do  not  belong  to 
the  subject  in  hand.  It  is  sufficient  to  remark  that 
his  ill-prepared  expedition  cost  Peter  in  the  course 
of  a  few  weeks,  not  only  the  prestige  won  through 
his  defeat  of  the  invincible  armies  of  Charles  of 
Sweden,  but  also  placed  him  for  a  time  at  the  en- 
tire mercy  of  his  Turkish  enemies.     Had  it  not 


134  THE  COSSACKS 

been  for  the  fascinations  and  diplomacy  of  his  new 
wife,  the  Empress  Catherine,  and  the  wholly  un- 
expected clemency  of  the  Tm'kish  vizir.  Tsar  Peter 
—  no  longer  "the  Great"  —  would  probably  have 
ended  his  career  a  prisoner  in  Constantinople. 

At  the  cost  of  nearly  all  the  ready  money  in  his 
treasury,  a  dearly  won  military  reputation  and  a 
disastrous  treaty,  the  emperor  of  all  the  Russias 
was  at  last  enabled  to  return  to  his  dominions  —  in 
spite  of  the  frenzied  protests  of  the  Swedish  king. 

By  the  humiliating  terms  of  the  temporary  peace 
of  Falksen,  which  closed  these  "negotiations,"  the 
Russians  returned  the  fortresses  of  Azov  and  Tag- 
anrog, commanding  the  littoral  of  the  Black  Sea,  to 
the  Turks.  In  the  same  document  they  promised 
not  to  infringe  the  "liberties"  of  the  Cossacks  of 
Poland  nor  those  under  the  protection  of  the  Khan 
of  Crimea.  But  these  advantages  the  Zaporogians 
enjoyed  for  only  a  brief  period.  By  the  terms  of 
the  Treaty  of  Pruth  a  more  regular  arrangement, 
far  less  favourable  to  the  Free  Cossacks,  was  con- 
cluded between  the  Tsar,  the  Khan  of  Crimea  and 
the  Porte.  The  Tsar  was  allowed  to  keep  Kiev, 
together  with  the  castles  and  fortified  places  de- 
fending the  surrounding  provinces  as  far  south  as 
Samara  and  Orel.  To  the  "Free  Cossacks"  was 
assigned  a  territory  with  vaguely  defined  bound- 
aries, forming  a  buffer  state  between  the  Southern 
province  belonging  to  the  Tsar  and  the  Turkish 
provinces  of  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Crimean  lit- 


THE  END  OF  THE  FREE  UKRAINE        135 

toral.  A  final  clause,  highly  galling  to  the  national 
susceptibilities  of  the  brotherhood,  engaged  the 
Tsar  on  one  hand  and  the  Khan  and  Sultan  on  the 
other  to  repress  and  punish  any  invasion  by  the 
Zaporogians  across  the  borders  of  the  territory  set 
aside  for  their  use.  These  measures  were  fatal  to 
Orlick's  dream  of  an  independent  Cossack  princi- 
pality and  put  an  end  for  the  time  being  to  further 
military  activities  on  the  part  of  his  turbulent 
followers. 

Although  the  Zaporogians  had  voluntarily 
sought  the  protection,  rather  than  an  alliance  with, 
the  Turks  and  Tartars,  and  could  therefore  hope 
for  no  special  favours  from  these  traditional  ene- 
mies, —  they  appear  nevertheless  to  have  felt 
greatly  aggrieved  at  their  treatment.  A  special 
cause  of  complaint  was  the  too  ready  acquiescence 
of  their  commander,  Orlick,  in  every  new  require- 
ment of  the  Turks.  The  Hetman,  in  order  to  re- 
main in  favour  with  the  Porte,  even  consented  to 
allow  the  Cossacks  to  be  deprived  of  their  artillery, 
while  constant  drill  and  review^s  enforcing  the  irk- 
some Turkish  discipline  in  their  ranks  were  looked 
upon  as  an  infringement  of  their  easy-going  "mili- 
tary privileges."  Although  the  Free  Companions 
were  soon  weary  of  an  alliance  or  tutelage  wliich 
so  estranged  them  from  their  fellow-Cossacks 
in  Russia,  during  the  lifetime  of  Peter  the  Great 
their  overtures  of  peace  were  treated  with  contempt. 
It  was  not  until  the  year  1732  that  events  occurred 


136  THE  COSSACKS 

which  caused  a  modification  in  Russia's  policy 
towards  them.  On  the  death  of  Augustus  II  (to 
whom  the  Tsar  had  given  the  crown  of  Poland  after 
Poltava),  the  Polish  republic  had  relapsed  into  the 
customary  state  of  anarchy  which  preceded  the 
election  of  every  new  candidate  to  the  vacant 
throne.  Another  king,  Augustus  III,  was  soon 
imposed  upon  the  Poles  by  the  Russian  armies.  Re- 
senting this  act  of  arbitrary  power,  a  party  among 
the  Polish  nobility  and  peasants  now  resolved  once 
more  to  ask  for  the  help  and  intervention  of  the 
Tartars  and  Cossacks. 

In  view  of  the  possibility  of  such  an  invasion, 
the  ministers  of  the  Empress  Ann  were  more  ready 
than  their  predecessors  to  negotiate  with  the  Zap- 
orogians.  A  Russian  officer  visited  the  Zaporo- 
gian  camp  with  regalia  and  presents  for  the  ataman 
and  the  chiefs  of  the  Kourens..  Not  only  was  an 
invitation  extended  to  the  "Free  Companions"  to 
return  to  their  old  allegiance,  and  to  re-establish  the 
sitcli  on  Russian  territory,  but  a  present  of  several 
million  roubles  was  also  offered  towards  the  re- 
building and  equipment  of  their  camp  below  the 
cataracts  of  the  Dnieper. 

In  order  to  counteract  the  success  of  these  nego- 
tiations, the  Sultan  sent  messengers  from  Constan- 
tinople charged  with  even  richer  presents  than  those 
offered  by  the  diplomats  of  the  Russian  mission. 
But  the  Cossack  leaders  repulsed  the  Turk- 
ish overtures  with  scorn,  and,  loud  in  their  expres- 


THE  END   OF   THE   FREE   UKRAINE     137 

sions  of  attachment  to  the  Orthdox  Church  and 
the  Russian  cause,  sent  the  Pasha  back  to  Constan- 
tinople with  a  negative  reply.  An  untoward  inci- 
dent, however,  marred  the  dignity  of  this  noble 
action  and  the  patriotic  alliance  which  it  sealed.  No 
sooner  had  the  Turkish  envoy  reached  the  limits  of 
the  Ottoman  dominions,  than  he  was  set  upon  by 
a  company  of  Zaporogians,  who  had  secretly  fol- 
lowed his  march  till  he  had  crossed  the  borders 
where  the  laws  of  hospitality  protected  him.  The 
returned  presents  were  then  carried  back  as  booty 
to  the  sitch.  While  disavowing  this  action,  by  a 
characteristic  process  of  reasoning  the  Zaporogians 
nevertheless  decided  that  the  goods  involved  must 
now  be  considered  "fair-prize,"  and  as  such  they 
were  duly  divided  among  the  entire  company! 

In  order  to  give  immediate  proof  of  their  zeal 
for  the  Russian  alliance,  thus  irretrievably  renewed, 
a  raid  was  forthwith  undertaken  upon  the  ill-starred 
provinces  of  the  Polish  frontier.  The  indiscrim- 
inate massacre  which  ensued  warned  the  Russians 
of  the  dangers  of  allowing  too  much  liberty  to  the 
Zaporogians.  The  government  took  measures  to 
restrict  in  many  ways  the  famous  "liberties"  of  the 
dtch.  Thus  the  "Free  Companions"  were  forced 
for  the  first  time  to  accept  the  control  of  a  Russian 
officer  stationed  in  their  midst,  while  a  council  made 
up  of  three  Russians  and  three  Cossacks  was  placed 
in  command  of  the  territories  assigned  to  them  in 
the  Ukratie. 


138  THE  COSSACKS 

It  will  readily  appear  from  the  preceding  para- 
graphs that  the  old  characteristics  of  the  sitch  —  a 
border  garrison  drawn  from  the  Cossack  frontier 
settlements  of  the  Ukraine  as  a  protection  against 
the  raids  of  Tartars  —  had  by  this  time  wholly  dis- 
appeared. The  Zaporogians  had  become  in  the 
course  of  time  little  more  than  an  organized  band  of 
border  ruffians,  anxious  only  to  sell  their  services 
to  the  best  advantage.  Their  conduct  during  the 
years  of  their  association  with  the  Porte  had  more- 
over estranged  them  from  their  old  neighbours.  It  is 
even  doubtful  whether  the  true  "Cossacks"  in  their 
ranks  represented  any  element  but  the  offscourings 
and  incorrigibles  of  the  Ukrainian  Cossack  villages 
and  farmsteads. 

The  last  occasion  on  which  the  Zaporogians  were 
regularly  employed  as  auxiliaries  by  the  Russian 
government  was  in  the  war  which  broke  out  between 
Russia  and  the  Porte.  The  open  violation  of  the 
Treaty  of  Pruthby  Peter's  successors,  the  Empresses 
Elizabeth  and  Ann,  left  no  other  course  open  to  the 
Sultan  but  war.  In  the  famous  campaigns  which 
ensued,  planned  by  General  Miinnich,  the  Turkish 
pro\inces  of  the  Black  Sea  and  the  territories  of  the 
Khan  of  the  Crimea  were  overrun  and  devastated. 
Nearly  eight  thousand  Zaporogians  shared  the  diffi- 
culties and  the  privations  of  the  expedition,  and 
their  knowledge  of  the  peculiar  tactics  of  desert 
warfare  made  them  of  great  service. 

At  the  siege  of  Ochakov,  an  operation  carried  on 


THE   END   OF   THE   FREE   UKRAINE     139 

by  land  and  sea,  the  Zaporogians  constructed  a 
fleet  of  their  famous  long  boats  and  in  these  fragile 
craft  boldly  attacked  the  Turkish  fleet.  As  at  the 
siege  of  Azov,  the  disconcerting  movements  of  this 
light  flotilla  succeeded  in  inflicting  heavy  damage 
upon  the  galleons  of  the  enemy.  The  characteristic 
reward  received  for  these  actions  is  set  down  by 
Lesur  in  the  following  terms : 

"Letters  patent  of  'satisfaction';  a  great  stand- 
ard embroidered  with  the  arms  of  Russia;  a  horse- 
tail Cossack  standard  enriched  with  gold ;  an  enam- 
elled bundchuk  or  a  mace  for  the  hoshevoy,  and  sev- 
eral millions  of  roubles  as  a  gratification  for  the 
*Free  Companions.'  At  the  same  time  Ann  is 
reported  to  have  caused  herself  to  be  inscribed  as 
a  member  of  the  sitcli  —  a  strange  distinction,  in- 
deed, for  this  womanless  community." 

However,  by  thus  aiding  in  the  destruction  of 
their  traditional  foes,  the  Tartars  of  the  Crimea, 
the  Zaporogians  had  at  the  same  time  removed  the 
principal  reason  for  which  their  unruly  garrison 
had  so  long  been  tolerated.  The  passing  of  frontier 
conditions  along  the  borders  of  the  Ukraine  inev- 
itably led  to  the  disappearance  of  the  Zaporogian 
sitch,  the  classic  stronghold  of  Cossack  liberties  and 
traditions. 

In  1768,  in  a  last  burst  of  "Zaporogian  fury," 
the  garrison  of  the  sitch  had  fallen  upon  the  hap- 
less frontiers  of  the  Polish  Ukraine.  "All  who 
were  not  of  the  Greek  religion,  including  old  men, 


140  THE  COSSACKS 

women,  children,  nobles,  servants,  monks,  labourers, 
artisans,  Jews,  Catholics,  Lutherans,  were  mas- 
sacred without  distinction.  The  entire  province 
presented  the  appearance  of  a  city  taken  by  as- 
sault."    (Lesur.) 

The  lust  for  plunder,  masquerading  under  the 
excuse  that  their  co-religionists  were  persecuted  by 
the  Poles,  was  the  cause  of  this  outrage.  Such  bar- 
barity sent  a  thrill  of  horror  through  all  the  civilized 
courts  of  Europe.  So  great  was  the  indignation 
that  the  Empress  Catherine  hastened  formally  to 
disclaim  all  responsibility  for  the  behaviour  of  her 
Zaporogian  subjects.  Russian  regular  troops  were 
sent  to  surround  the  isolated  bands  returning  to  the 
sitch,  and  besides  depriving  them  of  their  loot, 
forced  the  majority  of  the  best  troops  to  enroll  in 
the  sternly  disciplined  Cossack  slovodni  regi- 
ments of  the  Ukraine.  Only  the  outbreak  of  an- 
other Turkish  war  saved  the  sitch  from  further  re- 
prisals. A  sudden  attack  by  Turks  and  Tartars  on 
the  new  frontier  provinces,  coinciding  with  the 
strange  revolt  of  the  wild  Cossacks  of  the  Asiatic 
frontier  under  Pougatchev  —  "the  false  Peter  the 
Third"  —  deferred  this  righteous  execution. 

Representations  were,  however,  made  to  induce 
the  Zaporogians  "to  conform  to  the  laws  of  civiliza- 
tion." In  vain  they  objected  that  their  organiza- 
tion had  always  existed  as  it  stood.  Their  peculiar 
discipline  (or  rather  the  lack  of  military  rules)  they 
justified  by  the  successes  of  their  tactics  against  the 


THE   END   OF   THE   FREE   UKRAINE     141 

enemies  of  Russia.  Forgetting  their  frequent  dis- 
loyalties they  invoked  the  ukases  of  former  Tsars 
confirming  them  perpetually  in  their  privileges. 
Their  favourite  threat  when  pressed  by  Catherine's 
officers  was  to  pretend  that  they  were  about  to  re- 
turn to  their  Turkish  allegiance.  Thus,  while  the 
war  with  the  Sultan  lasted,  Catherine  feared  to 
punish  their  insolence. 

But  with  the  signing  of  the  treaty  of  Kainardji 
the  Empress  turned  her  attention  to  reorganizing 
the  Russian  border  provinces  against  a  possible  re- 
newal of  Turkish  aggression.  It  was  now  decreed 
that  the  Zaporogian  sitch,  the  focus  of  all  disorders 
in  the  Ukraine,  should  disappear.  Even  the  priv- 
ilege of  a  spirited  or  heroic  climax  to  their  long 
career  of  disorder  was  to  be  denied  them !  A  force 
of  troops  so  overwhelming  that  to  resist  would  have 
appeared  madness,  surrounded  the  stronghold  on 
every  side.  Completely  surprised  and  cowed  by 
such  a  determined  campaign  the  Zaporogians 
"without  even  bloodshed"  surrendered  their  arms 
to  the  representatives  of  Catherine's  authority.  The 
sitch  was  declared  "forever  destroyed  and  the  name 
of  Zaporogian  wiped  out."  In  order  the  more 
effectually  to  ensure  that  no  reorganization  of  their 
band  might  take  place,  the  territory  of  the  Zaporo- 
gians was  divided  am.ong  the  neighbouring  prov- 
inces of  Little  Russia  and  colonized  with  "foreign- 
ers."   The  lands  once  under  the  immediate  control 


142  THE  COSSACKS 

of  the  sitch  now  form  part  of  the  Russian  "govern- 
ment," of  Ekaterinaslav,  Kherson  and  Tauride.* 
The  conditions  of  the  Cossacks  living  in  the 

*  An  ukase  issued  by  Catherine  in  August,  1775,  con- 
tains a  careful  analysis  of  her  political  reasons  for  the 
annihilation  of  the  Zaporogians.  It  embodies,  moreover, 
an  interesting  review  of  the  history  of  the  sitch  which  has 
generally  formed  the  basis  for  the  rare  studies  dealing 
with  this  subject.  The  following  edifying  passage  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  the  empress  laid  much  of  the  blame 
for  the  disorderly  conduct  of  the  Zaporogians  upon  their 
repugnance  for  family  life :  "...  Historians  tell  us  that 
the  Zaporogian  Cossacks  once  formed  part  of  the  Cos- 
sacks of  Little  Russia,  but  that  they  afterwards  separated 
themselves  from  these  and  adopted  manners  and  customs 
of  their  own.  While  the  former  remained  faithfully  at- 
tached to  their  sovereign,  the  latter  established  them- 
selves beyond  the  cataracts  of  the  Dnieper,  where,  having 
little  by  little  augmented  their  number,  they  finally  formed 
a  warlike  and  political  association,  as  singular  in  its 
customs  as  it  was  contrary  to  the  views  of  the  Creator. 
The  ordinances  which  tend  to  facilitate  the  propagation 
of  the  human  species  were  not  considered  by  the  Zaporo- 
gians. One  of  the  principal  rules  of  the  establishment 
forbade  the  Cossacks  to  bring  with  them  from  the  Ukraine 
their  wives  or  children.  .  .  .  This  Cossack  custom, 
which  arose  from  a  desire  not  to  expose  their  families 
to  the  fury  of  the  enemy,  and  in  order  to  improve  their 
discipline  by  freeing  them  from  domestic  ties,  was  finally 
raised  to  the  place  of  a  cardinal  principle  by  the  Zaporo- 
gians. Through  the  workings  of  their  law,  which  en- 
joined celibacy,  they  forgot  their  native  land  and  lived 
on  the  shores  of  the  Dnieper  in  a  state  of  absolute 
irresponsibility." 


THE   END   OF   THE   FREE   UKRAINE     143 

settlements  or  stanitzi  of  Little  Russia  differed  but 
little  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  from  that 
of  the  Onodvortzi,  or  peasant-proprietors  of  Greater 
Russia.  From  the  account  of  contemporary 
writers,  it  would  appear  that  the  warlike  qualities 
which  formerly  distinguished  the  Ukrame  —  fos- 
tered by  a  life  of  continual  campaigning  against 
their  numerous  enemies  —  had  largely  disappeared 
under  the  conditions  brought  about  by  the  long- 
enforced  peace  following  the  firm  establishment  of 
Russian  rule. 

The  old  system  of  land  tenure  was  fast  disap- 
pearing and  great  estates  had  already  been  formed 
from  Cossack  land  and  granted  to  Russian  and 
Polish  nobles.  Moreover  at  this  time  the  ancient 
territory  of  the  Free  Ukraine  was  invaded  on  all 
sides  by  the  advance  of  Russian  colonists.  An  en- 
tire new  province,  known  as  New  Servia,  was  thus 
settled  on  the  Turkish  frontiers  with  a  population 
drawn  from  the  Christian  provinces  of  Turkey  and 
peasants  of  Northern  Russia.  In  order  to  estab- 
lish these  newcomers  as  quickly  as  possible,  Cath- 
erine sent  regiments  of  dragoons  to  plough  and 
sow  these  fertile  territories  long  uncultivated  owing 
to  fear  of  the  Mussulman. 

Internal  change  also  threatened  the  characteris- 
tic civilization  of  the  Cossacks  of  Little  Russia. 
During  the  short-lived  rule  of  Peter  III  an  attempt 
was  made  to  introduce  a  system  of  nobility  among 
the  officers  of  the  Cossack  regiments,  undermining 


144  THE  COSSACKS 

the  democratic  principle  of  equality  which  had 
formed  one  of  the  strongest  traditions  of  Cossack 
life.  Under  Catherine  the  Great,  even  more  stren- 
uous measures  were  taken  to  wipe  out  all  differ- 
ences between  the  Ukraine  and  the  neighbouring 
Russian  provinces. 

During  the  strange  parliament  summoned  at 
Petrograd  by  the  Empress  (in  an  access  of  what  she 
flattered  herself  was  "liberalism")  we  find  "repre- 
sentatives" from  the  Ukraine  Cossacks  among  the 
delegates  forcibly  gathered  to  deliberate  upon  a 
general  system  of  laws  for  the  "people"  of  Russia. 
Proud  of  their  national  customs  and  regulations, 
the  Cossacks  of  the  Ukraine  appear  to  have  strenu- 
ously resisted  all  these  innovations.  But  the  ter- 
rible Roumianzov,  now  Catherine's  favourite  min- 
ister, would  not  allow  this  imperial  passion  for 
reform  to  be  denied.  The  delegates  from  the  Cos- 
sack provinces  were  dragged  to  the  capital  in 
chains  and  forced  to  take  part  in  the  debates  under 
the  guard  of  Russian  troops.  As  a  result  of  their 
strange  deliberations  a  new  code  of  laws  was 
adopted  for  the  Ukraine,  in  which  the  ancient  cus- 
toms of  the  Cossacks  were  given  little  consideration. 
Thus  a  new  impetus  was  given  the  great  migration 
of  Cossacks  towards  the  Caucasus  and  the  Kou- 
ban  —  beyond  the  settlements  of  the  Don  —  where 
their  descendants  have  preserved  their  customs  to 
the  present  day. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

POUGATCHEV 

AT  no  time  since  the  "Troublous  Days"  which 
followed  the  death  of  Boris  Godounov  has 
the  padarok  or  public  order  of  the  Russian  people 
seemed  so  irretrievably  disturbed  as  at  the  present 
time.  The  period  of  anarchy  to  which  the  above 
name  was  given  has  always  been  looked  upon  with 
pious  horror  by  the  moujik,  at  heart  a  none  too 
heroic  lover  of  peace  and  quiet  above  all  other  con- 
siderations. Yet  the  "Red  Terror"  of  the  present 
day  is  not  the  only  grave  upheaval  which,  since  the 
days  of  the  "False  Dmitri,"  has  disturbed  the  slow 
evolution  of  Russia  toward  light  and  civilization. 
The  strange  "seeking"  un-European  idealism  of  the 
peasantry  makes  them  liable  —  in  spite  of  their 
instinctive  docility  —  to  almost  savage  outbreaks 
of  impatience.  Again  and  again  false  prophets 
have  arisen  to  deceive  the  people.  If  true  Russians, 
these  have  often  deceived  themselves. 

Pougatchev,  the  leader  of  the  great  Cossack  re- 
volt during  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, was  a  typical  specimen  of  the  Russian  mob- 
leader.  In  addition  to  ruthlessness  and  the  gift  of 
command  he  possessed  talents  of  organization  and 

145 


146  THE  COSSACKS 

military  leadership  which  the  Bolshevik  chieftains 
of  the  present  day  might  well  envy.  Above  all  he 
appears  as  a  master  of  the  note  of  religious  appeal 
which  in  Russia  must  always  accompany  "popular" 
success  —  an  appeal  recalling  the  dominant  note 
of  Russian  life,  whether  made  in  the  name  of  a 
schism  in  the  Orthodox  Church,  on  behalf  of  some 
socialist  doctrine  like  that  preached  to-day  in  the 
form  of  a  gospel  "according  to  Marx."* 

After  the  partition  of  Poland  and  the  suc- 
cess of  Catherine's  armies  during  their  Polish  cam- 
paigns, every  curious  detail  with  respect  to  the 
vast  empire  governed  by  "The  Semiramis  of  the 
North"  was  eagerly  sought  after  and  commented 
upon  in  the  distant  capitals  of  Europe.  The  cor-, 
respondence  which  the  Empress  Catherine  con- 
scientiously maintained  with  Voltaire  and  Diderot, 
besides  her  letters  to  Grimm,  her  unofficial  repre- 

*  Among  the  author's  books  is  an  edition  (in  Ger- 
man) of  a  pamphlet  entitled  "The  False  Peter  Third,  or 
the  Life  and  Adventures  of  the  Rebel  Yemelyan  Pougat- 
chev."  Originally  published  in  England,  by  "Seyffert  in 
Angel's  Court,  Westminster,  1775,"  this  work  was  trans- 
lated into  French,  German  and  Dutch.  Although  tlie 
style  of  its  contents  scarcely  rises  above  the  descriptions 
contained  in  the  "Chap-Books"  of  the  time  —  dealing 
with  the  life  and  death  of  celebrated  criminals  —  the  ex- 
traordinary interest  aroused  by  the  now  almost  forgot- 
ten adventure  of  the  Cossack  "usurper"  obtained  for 
this  biography  a  wide  circulation  for  several  generations 
following  the  strange  events  it  describes. 


POUGATCHEV  147 

sentative  and  accredited  gossip  in  Paris  —  kept  this 
extraordinary  woman  constantly  before  the  eyes  of 
her  contemporaries.  For  in  spite  of  their  fine  con- 
tempt for  kings  and  kingship,  the  philosophers 
thus  honoured  were  in  no  way  averse  to  publishing 
the  details  of  their  literary  intimacy  with  a  powerful 
sovereign.  Catherine,  on  the  other  hand,  forever 
cut  off  by  the  circumstances  of  her  position  from 
the  brilliant  society  she  felt  so  well  qualified  to 
grace,  seems  to  have  been  consoled  by  the  thought 
that  vicariously  at  least  she  had  become  known  to 
the  salons  of  Paris  and  London. 

Social  philosophy  was  the  fasliionable  distraction 
of  the  hour.  Like  the  "Parlor-Bolsheviki"  of  our 
own  day,  Catherine  delighted  in  the  parading  be- 
fore her  literary  friends  principles  of  the  most  ad- 
vanced and  enlightened  liberalism.  Taking  its 
tone  from  the  dilettante  reformers  of  the  gardens 
of  Versailles,  the  correspondence  of  the  Empress- 
Autocrat  is  constantly  concerned  with  the  solution 
of  problems  concerning  the  welfare  of  her  fellow- 
beings  and  the  "Rights  of  Man."  The  news  which 
she  herself  announced  of  the  revolt  of  Pougatchev, 
bringing  to  the  attention  of  these  courtly  republi- 
cans the  stirring  of  miglity  primitive  forces  in  the 
depths  of  a  wholly  unknown  Russia,  came  as  a  sen- 
sational bit  of  news  to  Catherine's  correspondents. 
In  the  doings  of  the  mysterious  beings  known  as 
"Cossacks"  they  may  perhaps  have  recognized  the 
embodiment  of  that  strange  philosophical  concep- 


148  THE  COSSACKS 

tion,  "Primitive  Man,"  whose  virtues  were  so 
lauded  by  their  oracle,  M.  Rousseau.  And  the  fact 
that  the  hardy  rebel  chieftain  (the  Cossack  leader 
to  whom  Catherine  refers  as  *'M.  Pougatchev") 
actually  claimed  to  be  the  husband  of  the  Tsarina 
added  an  almost  scandalous  touch  to  a  situation 
filled  with  every  possibility  of  interest. 

From  the  mass  of  exaggerations  and  fiction 
which  have  grown  up  about  the  great  Cossack 
revolt  and  the  person  of  Pougatchev  we  may  now 
try  to  clear  away  some  of  the  inaccuracies  with 
which  the  legends  of  the  Chap-Books  have  overlaid 
established  facts.  Yet  even  as  set  forth  in  the 
pages  of  the  judicious  historian  of  the  Cossacks, 
Lesur,  the  barest  report  of  these  doings  would 
seem  hardly  to  require  literary  embellishment.  "If 
audacity  of  character  and  conception  —  and  ex- 
cesses dictated  by  brutality  and  ferocity  —  can 
make  a  brigand  worthy  to  figure  in  history,  no  one 
has  more  merited  this  deplorable  honour  than  the 
subject  of  the  present  account."  ("Histoire  des 
Kosaques,"  Lesur.) 

Yemelyan  Pougatchev,  generally  known  by  the 
Russian  diminutive  of  his  name,  "Yemelka,"  was 
born  about  1723  in  the  Cossack  stanitza  of  Zimov- 
nikaja  on  the  Don.  Enrolled  at  an  early  age  in  the 
Cossack  regiment  to  which  this  district  was  obliged 
to  furnish  its  quota,  he  followed  the  campaigns  and 
shared  in  the  honors  gained  by  Catherine's 
armies  during  the  Seven  Years'  War  and  in  the 


POUGATCHEV  149 

subsequent  War  of  1769  against  the  Turks.  After 
the  siege  of  Bender  some  difference  with  his  mili- 
tary chiefs  caused  liim  to  desert  from  the  army. 
Taking  refuge  in  Poland  he  was  next  heard  from  in 
a  convent  of  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church  near  the 
Russian  border. 

3n  the  villages  nearby  the  religious  sectarians 
known  as  RaskolniU  or  "Old  Behevers"  had  estab- 
lished numerous  "congregations."  These  fanatics 
represented  the  reactionaries  or  "Puritans"  of  the 
Russian  Church.  The  principal  tenet  of  their  be- 
lief was  an  uncompromising  resistance  to  the  re- 
forms which  Peter  the  Great  had  introduced  in  the 
ritual  of  the  Greek  Orthodox  Church.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  believe  that  the  Cossack  trooper  Pougat- 
chev  had  any  deep  knowledge  of  the  finer  points  of 
this  ecclesiastical  controversy.  His  rebellious  na- 
ture, however,  found  sympathetic  fellowship  with 
the  Raskolniki,  who,  on  account  of  continued  re- 
fusal to  conform  to  the  government's  decrees,  either 
in  political  or  religious  matters,  were  subject  to 
persistent  persecution. 

Above  all  else  "The  Old  Believers"  prided  them- 
selves in  following  with  literal  exactitude  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Old  Testament.  A  favourite  text 
among  them  was  the  verse  setting  forth  that 
"among  the  followers  of  Christ  there  shall  be 
neither  first  nor  last."  To  this  doctrine  of  absolute 
equality  —  travestied  by  the  Bolshevik  philosophy 
of  our  own  day  —  they  joined  an  almost  Moham- 


150  THE  COSSACKS 

medan  conviction  that  to  die  for  the  faith  was  the 
highest  form  of  happiness. 

To  stop  the  spread  of  Raskolnik  doctrine  all 
kinds  of  limitations  had  been  placed  upon  the  ac- 
tivities of  their  missionaries.  In  many  places  they 
were  forbidden  to  own  property,  or  when  permit- 
ted to  do  so  were  forced  to  pay  double  taxes.  In 
some  towns  it  was  enacted  that,  like  Jews,  the 
Raskolniki  must  wear  clothing  of  a  distinguishing 
colour  and  fashion.  These  measures  had  the  usual 
effect  of  religious  persecution:  increasing  both 
their  zeal  and  numbers. 

In  the  older  provinces  of  the  Ukraine  the  strong 
arm  of  the  Orthodox  Church,  strengthened  by  the 
determination  of  Peter  the  Great  to  rule  over  a 
uniform  and  rehgiously  "united"  empire,  reduced 
even  the  most  fanatical  opponent  of  his  policy  to 
silence  or  obedience.  To  the  Puritan-minded  Ras- 
kolniki existence  in  "Holy  Russia"  became  intol- 
erable. 

In  the  remote  pro^ances  of  "New  Russia,"  along 
the  Asiatic  frontier,  especially  among  the  Cossacks 
of  the  Jaik  whose  free  traditions  were  opposed  to 
any  infringement  of  personal  liberty,  many  Raskol- 
niki who  had  fled  for  refuge  found  that  their  teach- 
ing met  with  particular  success.* 

*  "Jaik"  was  the  name  by  which  the  present  River 
Ural  was  formerly  known  and  the  title  of  the  Cossacks 
long  settled  on  its  shores.  The  name  of  Ural  was  im- 
posed by  imperial  edict  as  a  punishment  after  the  revolt 


POUGATCHEV  161 

It  was  probably  iii  the  company  of  one  of  these 
bands  that  Pougatchev  emigi-ated  to  this  congenial 
frontier  atmosphere.  Here  he  was  assured  of  a 
welcome  both  as  a  Raskolniki  and  as  a  Cossack  who 
had  already  suffered  in  the  cause  of  liberty  by  re- 
sisting the  harsh  disciphne  of  the  slovodi  of  the 
Don. 

Even  allowing  for  a  certain  degree  of  religious 
sincerity  in  Pougatchev's  beliefs,  the  course  of  con- 
duct he  now  adopted  tends  to  show  that  considera- 
tions of  morality  entered  very  little  mto  his  plans. 
Soon  after  liis  arrival  among  the  Jaikskoi,  Pougat- 
chev became  the  chief  of  a  mixed  band  of  Cossacks 
and  frontiersmen  who,  on  the  pretence  of  levying 
toll  or  passage  money  from  the  merchants  travel- 
ling in  the  no-man's  land  near  the  River  Kontai, 
in  reality  carried  on  depredations  worthy  only  of 
a  crew  of  bandits.  For  some  time  these  strange 
Puritans  continued  to  "spoil  the  Egyptians"  with 
considerable  success.  In  the  end  it  was  as  a  common 
highwayman,  rather  than  on  account  of  any  dan- 
gerous "revolutionary"  activities,  that  he  earned 

led  by  Pougatchev  had  finally  been  stamped  out.  As  an 
example  of  Cossack  conservatism,  my  friend  Prof.  Borodin 
(a  delegate  of  the  Uralsk  Cossacks  to  the  recent  Congress 
held  in  Petrograd)  informs  me  that  among  the  first 
projects  entertained  by  the  local  gathering  of  the  Cos- 
sacks in  the  town  of  Uralsk  after  the  March  revolution 
was  a  proposal  to  change  the  official  title  of  the  commu- 
nity by  resuming  the  ancient  name  of  "Cossacks  of  the 
Jaik." 


152  THE  COSSACKS 

the  distinction  of  being  arrested  by  the  authorities 
and  taken  to  Kazan  for  judgment.  Soon  after, 
through  the  carelessness  of  the  Russian  officials  in 
charge  of  his  prison  and  the  aid  of  fellow-Raskol- 
niki,  he  managed  to  escape. 

Now  began  the  career  which  has  given  to  Poug- 
atchev  such  strange  and  terrible  notoriety.  His 
plan  was  to  return,  with  as  little  delay  as  possible, 
to  the  distant  Cossack  bands  of  the  Jaik,  where, 
among  the  malcontents  of  the  frontier,  he  could 
resume  his  interrupted  leadership.  Disguised  as 
a  boatman  he  followed  the  great  highway  of  the 
Volga  and  its  tributaries  until  these  carried  him  to 
a  point  where  the  settlements  near  the  town  of 
Jaikskoi  could  be  reached.* 

His  return  came  at  an  opportune  moment.  The 
Russian  government  had  again  attempted  to  intro- 
duce among  the  unruly  inhabitants  of  this  thinly 
populated  province  the  same  military  reforms  that 
had  been  imposed  on  the  Cossacks  of  the  Dnieper 
and  Don.  Besides  the  settlements  of  the  ancient 
Jaikskoi  J  whose  origin  is  traced  from  the  remnants 
of  Scythian  tribes,  Cossacks  of  the  lower  Jaik 
included  large  numbers  of  runaway  Russian  serfs 
and  religious  refugees.  Above  all  else  they  were  a 
liberty-loving  race. 

*  So  identified  had  the  Cossacks  become  with  the  river 
traffic  on  these  great  streams  that  in  Hakluyt's  "Voyages" 
we  find  the  English  Merchants  Adventurers  of  the  Mus- 
covy company  referring  to  their  boatmen  under  the 
name  of  "Casaks  or  barkmen." 


POUGATCHEV  153 

Like  all  true  frontiersmen  the  Jaik  Cossacks 
held  agriculture  in  small  esteem.  Cattle-herding, 
hunting  and  the  rich  fisheries  of  the  river  Ural  fur- 
nished the  means  of  a  far  easier  existence.  To 
these  pleasant  pursuits  they  added  a  profitable  ex- 
ploitation of  the  great  natural  salt  fields  found  in 
the  marshes  of  the  river. 

The  Empress  Catherine's  policy  was  to  build  up 
in  all  her  frontier  provinces  an  agricultural  popu- 
lation of  peasant  farmers.  Although  none  of  these 
foreign  colonists  were  transferred  to  the  Jaik,  whole 
villages  were  settled  about  Samara  on  the  Volga. 
But  by  this  means  new  animosities  were  aroused,  for 
in  the  process  many  of  the  original  settlers  were  de- 
spoiled in  favour  of  the  newcomers.  Most  of  the 
latter  were,  moreover,  Germans,  whose  descendants, 
aliens  in  language  and  belief,  were  to  be  found, 
until  the  outbreak  of  the  present  war,  living  side 
by  side  with  the  Russian  population,  still  divided 
from  their  neighbours  by  ancient  quarrels.* 

At  the  same  time  that  the  Cossacks  found  them- 

*  The  foolish  and  short-sighted  policy  of  the  imperial 
German  government  in  tampering  with  the  Russian  al- 
legiance of  these  colonists  through  specious  offers  of  "dual 
nationality"  made  just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  war 
has  led  to  the  irremediable  dispersal  —  two  hundred  years 
after  their  foundation  —  of  the  chief  source  of  German 
influence  in  this  district.  Here,  again,  the  cynical  disre- 
spect of  Germany's  rulers  for  international  conventions 
brought  the  natural  punishment  for  their  misdeeds  on 
innocent  heads. 


154  THE  COSSACKS 

selves  ousted  from  great  tracts  of  "range"  neces- 
sary for  their  cattle,  the  government  had  sought  to 
force  them  to  more  "civilized  pursuits"  by  cutting 
off  the  subsidies  wliich  had  been  allowed  to  every 
head  of  a  Cossack  family  in  return  for  his  military 
services  against  the  neighbouring  Turkoman  tribes- 
men. The  strong  element  of  Raskolniki  among 
the  Cossacks  held  to  their  beliefs  with  fanatical 
determination.  These  observances  were  often  the 
cause  of  serious  trouble  with  the  authorities.  Like 
the  hoyars  of  Peter's  time,  the  sectarians  refused, 
on  religious  grounds,  to  shave  or  "trim  the  corners 
of  the  beard."  When  the  military  authorities  were 
ordered  to  enroll  these  matchless  horsemen  into 
regiments  of  "Hussars"  for  service  during  the 
Turkish  war,  the  first  act  of  the  general  in  com- 
mand (a  German,  one  of  many  serving  in  the 
Russian  armies)  was  to  order  that  his  bearded 
recruits  be  publicly  shorn  in  the  principal  square 
of  the  town  of  Jaikskoi.  His  fixed  belief  that  no 
hussar  could  fight  unless  wearing  moustaches  pre- 
scribed by  the  German  regulations  ended  in  the 
massacre  of  all  the  foreign  officers  engaged  in  re- 
cruiting service.  Only  the  arrival  of  regular  troops 
put  an  end  to  this  mutiny.  The  leaders,  enjojang 
the  approval  and  support  of  the  Cossacks,  easily 
escaped  to  the  neighbouring  desert. 

In  their  secret  headquarters  on  the  Kirghiz 
steppes,  Pougatchev  joined  the  leaders  of  this  re- 
volt.    Although  in  the  eyes  of  the  Tsarina's  offi- 


POUGATCHEV  155 

cials  Pougatchev  was  only  an  escaped  con\nct,  his 
prestige  was  now  established  among  the  "Old  Be- 
lievers" by  the  imprisonment  he  had  suffered  for 
his  religious  belief.  Successful  defiance  of  the  reg- 
ulations protecting  the  merchants  on  the  caravan 
road  was  but  an  added  title  to  their  respect.  Before 
long  he  found  himself  elected  the  leader  of  a  band 
of  desert  "Free  Companions,"  who,  with  some  pre- 
tence of  copying  the  organization  and  customs  of 
the  Zaporogian  Cossacks,  now  declared  themselves 
independent  of  all  authority.  Travelling  merchants 
and  caravans  were  attacked  under  the  pretext  of 
le\'ying  toll  on  all  who  ventured  across  their  terri- 
tory. Organized  "lifting"  of  the  cattle  belonging 
to  their  more  peaceful  neighbours  also  furnished 
the  means  of  an  easy,  even  joyous,  existence. 

In  the  spring  of  the  year  1773  Pougatchev,  per- 
haps in  order  more  formally  to  establish  his  leader- 
ship among  his  wild  companions,  or  dreaming  of 
wider  opportunities  for  his  ambition,  appears  first 
to  have  conceived  the  plan  of  appealing  to  their 
allegiance  by  claiming  to  be  the  murdered  Tsar 
Peter  III.  Wildly  improbable  as  the  scheme  may 
appear,  it  had,  nevertheless,  many  features  which 
promised  success.  The  circumstances  surround- 
ing the  assassination  of  this  unworthy  monarch, 
whom  Catherine  had  supplanted,  had  always  re- 
mained a  disquieting  mystery  to  the  peasants  of 
Russia.  According  to  popular  belief  (but  for  what 
historical  reasons  it  is  difficult  to  determine)    he 


156  THE  COSSACKS 

was  generally  supposed  to  have  suffered  martyr- 
dom on  account  of  his  devotion  to  the  cause  of  the 
peasant  reforms.  Among  the  "Old  Believers"  and 
the  other  strange  sects  which  flourished  on  the 
Russian  borders,  he  was,  moreover,  greatly  revered 
because  of  the  leniency  he  had  shown  to  their 
brethren  during  his  brief  and  disordered  reign.  The 
manner  in  which  the  Empress  had  succeeded  her 
unworthy  husband  on  the  throne  had  always  been 
left  unexplained  by  Catherine  in  her  proclamations 
announcing  this  event  in  distant  parts  of  the  em- 
pire. The  belief  appears  to  have  existed  that  the 
rightful  Emperor  was  only  held  in  prison  by  the 
officials  devoted  to  Catherine  and  her  favourites. 
Thus  the  rumour  that  "Father  Peter"  was  still  alive 
had  probably  long  been  current  among  the  Cos- 
sacks of  the  Asiatic  frontier  before  Pougatchev 
sought  to  turn  the  legend  to  his  own  advantage. 

Pougatchev,  for  this  device  or  impersonation, 
could  not  even  claim  originality.  Only  a  century 
before  the  boy  Tsarevitch  Dmitri  —  murdered 
by  his  ambitious  guardian,  Boris  Goudonov  —  had 
been  successfully  impersonated  by  a  mysterious 
personage  known  in  history  under  the  name  of  the 
"False  Dmitri."  This  was  probably  one  Gregory 
Ostrepiev,  a  young  monk  who,  with  the  support 
of  the  Polish  nobility  (whose  credulity,  in  view  of 
the  questions  of  policy  it  involved,  it  is  unnecessary 
to  fathom),  actually  succeeded  in  revenging  upon 
the  son  of  the  Russian  usurper  the  crime  to  which 


POUGATCHEV  167 

the  father  owed  the  throne.  For  a  few  months 
Gregory  ruled  the  distracted  Russian  Empire  as 
Tsar  (1606).* 

That  the  "fraud"  of  Ostrepiev  did  not  result  in 
establishing  a  new  dynasty  permanently  upon  the 
Russian  throne  seems  rather  due  to  the  character 
of  the  new  Tsar  than  to  any  doubts  with  respect 
to  his  legitimate  rights^  His  advent  as  a  force 
capable  of  restoring  order  in  the  midst  of  the 
"Troublous  Times"  had  been  hailed  with  delight 
by  the  whole  Russian  people.  Had  not  Dmitri 
shown  himself  too  Polish  in  his  habits  and  taste  to 
suit  his  new  subjects,  he  would  probably  have 
reigned  to  the  end  of  his  days.  But  "because  he 
ridiculed  the  monks  and  went  bear  hunting  like 
the  Polish  king,  the  populace  of  Moscow  struck 
him  down,  burning  his  body  as  that  of  a  'sorcerer' 
who  had  deceived  the  people." 

The  reign  of  the  succeeding  Tsar  Shouiski 
(little  more  legitimate  than  the  pretender  who  op- 
posed him)  was  troubled  by  a  whole  series  of 
"False  Dmitris."    One  of  these,  a  Donskoi  Cossack, 

*  For  a  full  discussion  of  the  problem  of  the  "False 
Dmitri"  see  an  article  in  the  Russian  Review  for  Novem- 
ber, 1913,  by  George  Afanasyev.  The  writer  quotes  an  in- 
terview between  the  English  traveller  Cox  and  the  Russian 
historian  Miller,  which  tends  to  prove  that  the  latter  be- 
lieved the  pretensions  of  Ostrepiev  to  be  genuine.  A 
study  by  Count  Shermetev  concerning  this  much-debated 
mystery  is  about  to  be  published. 


168  THE  COSSACKS 

succeeded  in  backing  up  his  pretensions  with  a 
Falstaffian  army  in  whose  ranks  marched  four  or 
five  fellow-pretenders,  each  impersonating  some 
member  of  the  imperial  family.* 

It  would  seem  highly  probable  that  the  traditions 
of  these  more  or  less  successful  impostors  would 
have  been  preserved  in  the  folk-songs  and  legends 
of  the  Don  stanitza  where  Pougatchev  was  born. 
In  turning  their  example  to  account  by  attempting 
to  exploit  the  belated  popularity  of  the  ignoble 
husband  of  Catherine  the  Great,  the  bandit  leader 
only  followed  a  generally  successful  precedent 
well  known  in  Cossack  history. 

From  the  beginning  Pougatchev  seems  to  have 
found  little  difficulty  in  inducing  the  majority  of 
his  companions  to  accept  his  pretensions  to  be  Peter 
III,  the  rightful  Tsar  of  Russia.  While  the  Rus- 
sian authorities  treated  with  ridicule  the  bombast 
of  the  false  "monarch"  who,  from  his  capital  or 
encampment  in  the  salt  desert  of  Jaik,  addressed 
them  in  pompous  manifestoes,  new  recruits  flocked 
to  his  standard  in  alarming  numbers.  Soon  the 
Raskolniki  and  the  element  of  discontented  peas- 
ants and  landless  Cossacks,  to  whom  his  eloquence 
was  generally  directed,  began  to  believe  in  the  in- 
fallibility of  this  fierce  desert  Messiah.  A  few 
easily  won  military  successes  also  added  stability 
to  his  throne.  Skilfully  choosing  as  the  object  of 
his  attacks  the  almost  defenceless  German  colon- 

*  See  Rambaud,  "Histoire  de  Russia,"  page  288. 


POUGATCHEV  159 

ists,  established  by  Catherine  near  the  Free  Cossack 
lands,  and  therefore  objects  of  particular  hatred 
to  the  entire  Cossack  population,  —  he  directed  a 
popular  crusade  to  restore  this  territory  to  the  pre- 
vious owners.  His  speedy  triumphs  were  even 
tempered  with  a  certain  "royal"  clemency.  Leaving 
to  his  alien  victims  the  bare  necessities  of  existence; 
in  return  for  a  promised  tribute  and  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  his  imperial  claims  their  lives  were 
spared.  At  the  same  time  a  rich  booty  provided 
his  followers  with  much  needed  stores  and  equip- 
ment to  continue  their  campaign. 

Along  the  course  of  the  lower  Jaik  only  the  prin- 
cipal town,  Jaikskoi,  was  able  to  resist  the  fury 
of  Pougatchev's  attack.  When  summoned  to  sur- 
render "in  the  name  of  the  Tsar,"  the  leaders  of  the 
garrison  replied  that  they  were  too  familiar  with 
the  name  of  Pougatchev  and  the  reputation  of  the 
ruffians  composing  his  band  even  to  consider  such 
an  impudent  demand.  In  the  face  of  this  challenge, 
whether  because  he  felt  himself  unprepared  for  a 
siege,  or  on  accoimt  of  the  possible  effect  of  the 
derisive  rebuke  he  had  received  upon  the  allegiance 
of  his  followers,  Pougatchev  now  returned  to  his 
desert  stronghold,  where  he  began  busily  recruiting 
his  forces  for  an  attack  upon  Orenburg,  the  prin- 
cipal town  of  the  Russian  frontier  provinces. 

The  Governor  of  Orenburg  was  at  this  time  an 
officer  in  the  regular  Russian  army,  newly  arrived 
and  without  experience  in  desert  warfare.    Under- 


160  THE  COSSACKS 

estimating  the  force  of  a  movement  led  by  so  ridicu- 
lous an  individual  as  a  "false  Peter  III"  he  angrily- 
ordered  the  small  garrison  of  the  two  nearest  fron- 
tier outposts  to  proceed,  without  delay,  against  the 
rebels.  By  a  series  of  lightning  marches  —  such  as 
only  Cossack  troops  are  capable  of  performing  — 
Pougatchev  succeeded  in  defeating  first  one  and 
then  the  other  of  these  detachments.  The  soldiers 
who  volunteered  to  join  his  ranks  were  welcomed 
among  the  armies  of  the  pretender.  The  remainder, 
including  nearly  all  the  officers,  were  pitilessly  mas- 
sacred. (When  one  recalls  the  composition  of 
Catherine's  frontier  armies,  the  lifelong  exile  of  the 
serf-soldiers  and  criminals  who  served  out  their 
penal  sentences  in  its  ranks,  it  is  in  no  way  sur- 
prising to  learn  that  many  disciplined  recruits  were 
gained  by  the  rebels  from  prisoners  and  deserters 
from  the  imperial  forces.) 

Orenburg,  the  rich  centre  of  an  important  group 
of  caravan  trails  crossing  the  Turcoman  deserts, 
although  defended  by  a  fortress  and  heavy  earthen 
walls,  was  next  attacked.  Only  the  courageous 
conduct  of  the  garrison  of  a  neighbouring  post 
whose  defense  delayed  the  advance  of  the  Cossacks 
long  enough  to  enable  the  governor  to  obtain  rein- 
forcements, saved  the  capital  of  Russia's  Asiatic 
provinces  from  the  fierce  attack  of  Pougatchev's 
army. 

Following  the  continued  success  of  their  leader, 
these  had  now  become  a  force  by  no  means  to  be 


POUGATCHEV  161 

readily  dispersed.  Besides  a  majority  of  the  Jaik- 
skoi  Cossacks,  Pougatehev  had  under  his  command 
a  great  body  of  Bashkir  tribesmen  and  several 
bands  of  unruly  Budjiak  Tartars  who  had  but 
recently  been  exiled  to  these  deserts  from  the 
Crimea  by  Catherine's  orders.  Eleven  thousand 
Kalmoucks,  after  massacring  the  Russian  officials 
set  over  them,  joined  his  standard  in  a  body.  Even 
a  detachment  of  Polish  gentlemen  and  their  re- 
tainers, exiles  on  their  way  to  Siberia,  lent  him  the 
aid  of  their  military  knowledge,  burning  to  avenge 
on  Catherine,  by  any  means  at  hand,  the  wrongs 
she  had  inflicted  upon  their  country. 

Pougatehev  now  found  his  word  the  undisputed 
law  over  an  empire  geographically  as  vast  as  the 
Central  Europe  of  to-day.  In  all  this  wide  but 
sparsely  settled  territory  only  the  garrisons  of  a 
few  strongly  fortified  towns  were  able  to  hold  out 
against  his  assaults.  Had  the  Cossacks  waited 
until  hunger  and  despair  brought  about  the  sur- 
render of  these  isolated  garrisons,  the  results  might 
have  been  different.  But  in  order  to  maintain  the 
military  ardour  of  his  followers,  anxious  for  plun- 
der, an  active  siege  of  Orenburg  was  imdertaken. 
In  full  sight  of  the  garrison  of  Orenburg,  the  Cos- 
sack leader  carried  out  the  reviews  and  ceremonies 
of  his  grotesque  court,  seeking  by  every  means  in 
his  power  to  impress  both  upon  his  fickle  subjects 
and  the  beleaguered  enemy  a  sense  of  his  new 
importance. 


162  THE  COSSACKS 

The  personality  of  Pougatchev  had  by  this  time 
become  entirely  merged  in  that  of  Peter  III.  Per- 
haps deluded  by  some  strange  doctrine  of  trans- 
substantiation,  he  appeared  to  have  persuaded  him- 
self of  the  actual  truth  of  his  claims.  His  supporters 
among  the  Raskolniki  enabled  him  to  adopt  the 
role  of  prophet  as  well  as  Tsar.  Dressed  in  gor- 
geous pontifical  robes  he  distributed  absolution  and 
blessings  on  his  wild  followers  reduced  to  a  state  of 
reverential  awe  by  these  mummeries.  (Pushkin's 
*'The  Captain's  Story,"  a  piece  of  brilliant  fiction 
founded  on  profound  historical  research,  deals 
with  these  events. ) 

On  his  banners  was  inscribed  in  letters  of  gold 
the  legend  "Redivivus  et  ultor"  (Resurrected  and 
avenging).  About  his  person  high-titled  officers 
and  attendants  exercised  their  offices  real  and  imag- 
inary. At  meals  Polish  noblemen,  of  authentic  lin- 
eage, served  him  as  lackeys.  To  the  sound  of  trum- 
pets and  the  beating  of  drums  royal  toasts  were 
drunk  —  to  the  future  of  the  "popular  cause."  In 
the  government  of  his  strange  dominions  a  council 
of  ministers,  with  the  title  of  hoyars,  carried  out 
his  orders  and  issued  ukases  in  due  form.  An  order 
of  chivalry  was  established  which  conferred  grand- 
iloquent titles  upon  Cossack  peasants  and  Kal- 
mouck  braves.  Pougatchev  even  succeeded  in 
issuing  a  rough  coinage  bearing  his  effigy  with  the 
title  "Peter  III  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias." 

Had  Pougatchev  possessed  the  strength  of  char- 


POUGATCHEV  163 

acter  necessary  to  maintain  the  role  he  had  first 
affected  —  that  of  a  religious  and  social  reformer  — 
the  forces  of  discontent  might  have  gathered  from 
all  over  Russia  to  his  banners.  The  long-promised 
reforms,  demanded  by  the  peasants,  had  been  but 
the  amusement  of  Catherine's  leisure.  The  endless 
formal  enquiries  and  reports  which  she  had  caused 
to  be  drawn  up  with  reference  to  taxation  and  peas- 
ant emancipation,  and  the  "Congress"  to  which  del- 
egates were  dragged,  sometimes  in  chains,  to  listen 
to  adulation  of  their  mistress,  were  only  intended  by 
her  courtiers  to  flatter  the  Tsarina's  "liberalism." 
The  signs  of  a  deep-rooted  discontent  with  the 
established  order  was  everywhere  apparent. 

In  spite  of  the  grotesque  pretensions  which  at- 
tended his  career,  Pougatchev's  crusade  against  the 
nobles  and  landlords  might  have  gathered  a  for- 
midable following.  Like  the  "False  Dmitri,"  he 
now  dreamed  of  Moscow  and  a  throne  in  the  Krem- 
lin. The  gravity  of  the  situation  which  confronted 
Catherine  was,  to  a  certain  degree,  admitted.  Proc- 
lamations in  which  she  at  last  condescended  to  no- 
tice, and  even  argue,  with  respect  to  Pougatchev's 
claims  to  be  Peter  III  now  appeared.  Although 
she  wrote  to  Voltaire  of  the  doings  of  "Monsieur 
de  Pougatchev,"*  she  was,  nevertheless,  careful  at 
the  same  time  to  warn  her  subjects  "to  obey  only 
the  laws  signed  by  my  own  hand."    An  appeal  was 

*  Letters  of  Catherine  to  Voltaire. 


164  THE  COSSACKS 

also  made  to  the  Cossacks  of  the  Jaik  to  return  to 
their  true  allegiance.* 

A  measure  far  more  dangerous  to  the  cause  of 
the  pretender  was  an  offer  of  a  tremendous  reward 
(100,000  roubles)  to  be  paid  for  his  person  or  proof 
of  his  death.  Pougatchev,  who  could  neither  read 
nor  write,  caused  a  series  of  manifestos  to  be  issued 
in  answer  to  these  ukases  promising  among  other 
reforms  freedom  of  the  serfs  and  restoration  of  all 
Cossack  privileges.  This  was  a  political  move  of 
no  little  sagacity.  Even  in  the  distant  parts  of 
European  Russia  Pougatchev's  "program"  was 
everywhere  greeted  with  enthusiasm. 

The  chief  danger  to  Pougatchev's  cause  was  now 
to  arise  from  his  own  natural  ferocity  of  character 
and  the  unbreakable  chains  of  brutal  passions. 
Imagining  that  his  kingly  state  was  now  assured, 
he  allowed  himself  to  indulge  with  impunity  in  the 
most  outrageous  debauchery.  His  conduct  soon 
became  a  cause  for  scandal  among  the  Raskolnik 
elders  who  had  formed  his  first  disciples.  The 
"unco  guid"  of  the  Cossack  community  —  rigid  fol- 
lowers of  the  text  of  the  ancient  Scriptm'es  — 
might  condone  acts  of  freebooting  and  piracy  which 
could  be  considered  in  accordance  with  the  divine 
ordinance  to  "spoil  the  Egyptians,"  but  the  spec- 
tacle which  their  leader  soon  afforded  them,  and 
especially  his  amorous  subjection  to  a  notorious 
harlot  of  Jaikskoi,  lost  him  the  support  of  these 

*  Lesur,  page  221. 


POUGATCHEV  165 

rigid  sectarians.  When  he  insisted  on  the  presence 
of  the  elders  at  a  wedding  feast  with  "Jezebel"  (for 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  had  a  legally  wedded 
Cossack  wife,  he  was  bent  upon  celebrating  a  fresh 
alliance  by  an  orgy  worthy  in  every  respect  of  his 
bride) ,  a  mutiny  occurred  among  his  followers.  In 
order  to  distract  the  attention  of  his  army  from 
these  troublesome  domestic  matters  he  now  threat- 
ened to  lay  siege  in  regular  form  to  the  great  city 
of  Kazan,  and  a  strong  Russian  force  under  Gen- 
eral Bibikov  was  sent  to  the  rehef  of  that  place. 

By  a  quick  march  towards  the  frontier,  Samara, 
an  important  city  on  the  Volga,  was  recovered  from 
the  rebels,  and  the  lower  course  of  this  stream  once 
more  opened  to  navigation.  But  the  wild  character 
of  the  country,  among  whose  deserts  and  salt 
marshes  his  followers  found  themselves  at  home, 
enabled  "Peter  III"  not  only  to  keep  his  armies 
intact,  but  also  to  obtain  a  sudden  advantage.  Re- 
turning after  a  long  detour,  he  surprised  an  isolated 
force  forming  the  personal  guard  of  General  Bib- 
ikov. Amazed  by  this  unexpected  attack  the  Rus- 
sians were  almost  annihilated  and  their  leader 
escaped,  only  to  die  later  of  a  slight  wound,  which 
his  rage  and  mortification  alone  rendered  serious. 

Galitzine  and  his  regulars  now  once  more  ap- 
peared upon  the  scene,  attacking  the  Cossack  bands 
with  such  vigour  that  in  the  course  of  a  six  hours* 
struggle  the  rebels  were  in  their  turn  completely 
defeated.    This  time,  Pougatchev  with  a  few  fol- 


166  THE  COSSACKS 

lowers  barely  succeeded  in  escaping  to  the  unknown 
country  among  the  foothills  of  the  Urals.  Through 
the  success  of  these  military  operations  the  great 
Cossack  rebellion  was  generally  supposed  in  Eu- 
rope to  be  at  an  end.  But  the  cause  of  Pougatchev 
had  become  identified  with  the  wrongs  of  the  peas- 
ants, the  sufferings  of  the  enforced  colonists  of  the 
Siberian  frontier  and  the  "privileges"  of  which  the 
Cossacks  felt  themselves  unjustly  deprived.  Even 
the  wild  tribes  of  Bashkirs  and  Kalmoucks  inhab- 
iting the  deserts  and  steppes  about  Orenburg 
looked  to  Pougatchev  to  relieve  them  of  the  taxes 
and  tasks  imposed  upon  them  by  Catherine's  offi- 
cers. His  misfortunes,  moreover,  had  done  much  to 
wipe  out  the  unfavourable  impression  made  by  his 
excesses  in  the  minds  of  the  Puritan  Raskolniki. 
In  ever-increasing  numbers  recruits  once  more 
travelled  by  desert  ways,  unknown  to  the  Russians, 
to  join  the  new  "Army  of  Revenge."  Fanaticized 
by  his  indomitable  eloquence  and  energy,  his  wild 
horsemen  made  a  sudden  descent  upon  the  frontier 
blockhouses  undeceiving  the  officials  who  had 
thought  Pougatchev's  powers  for  mischief -making 
at  an  end. 

This  time  the  help  of  one  of  Russia's  ablest  gen- 
erals, Michelson  (a  soldier  of  Scottish  descent,  the 
favourite  pupil  of  the  gi'eat  Romarzov),  was  in- 
voked to  meet  the  situation.  Wholly  new  tactics 
were  adopted.  Quantities  of  mounted  troops  were 
improvised  from  the  foot  regiments,  and  during  a 


POUGATCHEV  167 

running  battle  of  tliree  days  Michelson  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  cornering  his  enemy.  A  crushing  defeat 
put  an  end  to  the  strange  career  of  the  Cossack 
"Peter  III"  —  "redivivus"  no  more.  Pougatchev 
escaped,  but  veteran  troops,  including  several  regi- 
ments of  Cossacks  from  the  Don  lately  returned 
from  the  Turkish  wars,  were  now  used  by  the  Rus- 
sian authorities  to  hunt  down  the  scattered  bands 
of  the  malcontents.  A  last  tragic  episode  was,  how- 
ever, to  be  added  to  the  ill-fame  of  the  chieftain. 

The  wrongs  of  the  dispossessed  Cossacks  and 
peasants  who  formed  a  large  part  of  Pougatchev's 
armies,  justified  in  a  measure  their  actions  and 
their  revolt  against  tjrranny.  But  no  cause,  how- 
ever just,  could  long  prosper  under  such  a  leader. 
To  the  last,  the  career  of  the  "Cossack  Tsar"  re- 
mains unrelieved  by  a  single  ray  of  noble  or  gener- 
ous intention.  Seldom  was  a  popular  "hero"  so 
unworthy  of  his  opportunities.  The  news  of  the 
final  defeat  of  Pougatchev's  armies  was  coupled 
with  that  of  a  brutal  murder  which,  even  in  his  re- 
treat, he  paused  to  accomplish.  The  philosopher 
Lowitz,  who,  with  a  few  learned  companions,  had 
been  engaged  in  surveying  a  route  for  a  canal  to 
join  the  great  highway  of  the  Volga  with  the  Black 
Sea,  was  surprised  by  the  fleeing  "Tsar  Peter" 
during  this  work.  The  celebrated  savant  —  to  give 
point  to  a  brutal  jest  —  was  impaled  upon  a  long 
stick  "in  order  to  continue  star  gazing." 

Pougatchev's  intemperate  and  brutal  nature  was 


168  THE  COSSACKS 

also  the  cause  of  his  final  capture.  In  spite  of  the 
reward  set  upon  his  head,  three  faithful  compan- 
ions had  shared  with  him  the  dangers  and  priva- 
tions of  his  flight.  While  lurking  in  hiding  among 
the  salt  lakes  not  far  from  the  Jaik,  one  of  these 
three  —  overcome  by  fatigue  and  the  hopelessness 
of  their  situation  —  dared  to  suggest  to  his  chief 
the  advisability  of  considering  a  surrender.  Poug- 
atchev,  perhaps  thinking  to  overawe  his  comrades, 
without  hesitation  drove  his  dagger  into  the 
speaker's  throat. 

The  companions  of  the  murdered  man  now  threw 
themselves  on  their  leader  and  binding  him  with 
his  own  horse's  reins  and  bridle,  carried  him  to  the 
Russian  troops  under  General  Zaharov,  com- 
manding the  town  of  Jaikskoi.  From  this  place, 
which  had  been  the  scene  of  "Peter  Ill's"  wildest 
exploits  and  excess  successes,  he  was  carried  to 
Moscow  in  an  iron  cage,  a  species  of  terrible  show 
and  example  to  all  the  villages  along  the  way. 

In  captivity  Pougatchev  showed  the  psychologi- 
cal transformations  so  common  to  wild  and  brutal 
natures.  His  jailers  and  those  who  visited  him  in  his 
prison  were  astonished  to  find,  instead  of  the  ter- 
rible monster  created  by  popular  belief,  a  mild  and 
cringing  convict  continually  hopeful  of  a  reprieve. 

Yet  the  extraordinary  powers  of  persuasion  or 
personal  magnetism  of  which  the  Cossack  leader 
was  master  were  to  be  exercised  even  upon  his 
executioner.    The  sentence  passed  upon  the  "False 


POUGATCHEV  169 

Peter  the  Third"  — no  more  barbarous  than  his 
crimes  demanded  in  the  opinion  of  his  time re- 
quired that  "he  should  be  quartered  alive,  his  hands 
and  feet  cut  off,  and  his  ashes  then  to  be  thrown  to 
the  winds."  As  a  last  grace  the  pubhc  hangman 
consented  on  the  scaffold  to  alter  the  course  of  this 
terrible  punishment,  moved  by  Pougatchev's  tears 
and  eloquent  pleadings.  First  cutting  off  the  ban- 
dit's head  at  a  single  blow,  he  thus  mercifully  ended 
his  sufferings.  As  a  punishment  for  this  humane 
weakness,  defeating  the  ends  of  justice,  the  un- 
fortunate official  was  given  the  knout,  his  tongue 
was  cut  out,  and  he  was  sent  to  end  his  days  in  Si- 
berian banishment. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  HETMAN  PLATOV 

IN  the  days  of  public  rejoicing  following  the 
Peace  of  Paris  no  hero  of  the  armies  of  the 
Grand  Coalition  which  had  overthrown  Napoleon 
enjoyed  such  unrivalled  popularity  as  the  Hetman 
Platov,  the  leader  of  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don. 
The  versions  of  his  terrifying  exploits  which  became 
current  in  Europe  were  often  so  exaggerated 
that  the  hetman  —  like  Mazeppa  —  began  to  be 
considered  by  a  later  generation  as  a  character  in 
fiction.  Always  modest  in  his  own  accounts,  Platov 
became  the  victim  of  overzealous  biographers.  It 
is  only  in  recent  years  that  writers  of  his  own  race 
have  succeeded  in  making  clear  the  history  of  the 
stirring  events  in  which  he  took  part  and  the  im- 
portant military  role  played  by  the  Cossacks  during 
the  retreat  of  the  French  from  Moscow. 

During  Platov's  visit  to  England  in  the  personal 
suite  of  the  Emperor  Alexander,  his  fame  threat- 
ened to  eclipse  even  the  reception  accorded  to  the 
*'Tsar  Idealist"  himself.  At  a  memorable  race 
meeting  held  in  Ascot  in  the  year  1815  the  hetman 
was  almost  mobbed  by  his  admirers:  "his  arrival  was 
greeted  by  a  tempest  of  cheers  so  prolonged  that 

170 


THE  HETMAN  PLATO\' 


THE  HETMAN  PLATOV  171 

they  threatened  to  interrupt  the  serious  busi- 
ness of  the  occasion.  Five  men  at  one  time  were 
shaking  his  hand,  each  one  passing  on  to  a  friend 
the  finger  that  he  had  enjoj^ed  the  honour  of  hold- 
ing. An  attention  even  more  annoying  to  the  gal- 
lant Cossack  was  offered  by  a  throng  of  ladies,  who, 
armed  with  scissors,  insisted  either  upon  being  pre- 
sented with  locks  of  the  hero's  hair,  or  when,  for 
obvious  reasons,  this  was  refused,  on  cutting  sou- 
venirs from  the  tail  of  his  charger."*  Yet  in  spite 
of  this  overwhelming  reception,  Platov  always 
looked  back  on  this  stay  among  the  warm-hearted 
Londoners  as  the  happiest  epoch  of  his  life. 

Platov  was  born  about  the  middle  of  the  XVIIIth 
century  at  Tcherkass,  the  old  capital  of  the  Don 
Cossacks. 

The  exact  date  of  his  birth  is  unknown  because 
in  later  years  he  was  always  careful  to  conceal  his 
age  from  his  companions-in-arms  —  many  of  them 
younger  than  his  own  grandchildren.  His  military 
career,  like  that  of  the  veteran  Prince  Kutusov, 
forms  a  connecting  link  between  the  group  of  bril- 
liant generals  who  directed  the  victorious  wars  of 
Catherine  the  Great  and  the  history  of  the  Napo- 
leonic era. 

Ivan  Platov,  the  future  hetman's  father,  was  a 
simple  Cossack  officer  who,  like  his  son,  was  born 
at  Tcherkass.     It  is  considered  a  noteworthy  fact 

*  Platov's  ovm  account,  quoted  by  Prof.  A.  E.  Tar- 
rasov,  in  "The  Hetman  Platov,"  in  Russian,  1902. 


172  THE  COSSACKS 

by  his  biographers  that  the  elder  Plato v  knew  how 
to  read  and  write,  advantages  which  he  took  pains 
to  secure  for  his  son,  young  Matvei  Ivanovitch.  But 
in  the  warlike  times  of  Catherine's  reign  school  days 
were  necessarily  brief  in  all  Cossack  stanitzi  on  the 
Don.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  we  find  the  fu- 
ture hetman  serving  as  a  private  in  the  ranks  of  the 
Tcherkask  regiment. 

Like  all  true  Cossacks  Platov  welcomed  the  end 
of  the  long  peace  which  was  marked  by  the  out- 
break of  the  first  Turkish  war.  Great,  therefore, 
was  his  disappointment  when  the  elder  Platov  was 
summoned  (on  account  of  his  knowledge  of  the 
frontier  conditions)  to  the  general  staff  in  Petro- 
grad,  so  that  in  his  absence  his  son  became  charged 
with  the  direction  of  the  family's  modest  affairs.  It 
was  in  disobedience,  therefore,  of  his  father's  orders 
that  in  1770  Platov  joined  his  old  comrades-in-arms 
in  the  Crimea,  where  they  were  then  serving  under 
the  command  of  the  Russian  General  Dolgorouki. 
His  stay  at  the  main  front  was,  however,  not  a 
prolonged  one,  for  we  next  hear  of  him  stationed 
among  the  frontier  garrisons  of  Cossack  troops  on 
the  shores  of  the  Kouban.  With  them  he  engaged 
in  a  brisk  little  campaign  against  the  warlike  moun- 
taineers of  the  Caucasus,  a  never  failing  accompa- 
niment of  Russia's  wars  against  the  Sultan. 

During  the  years  1775-1777  Platov  served  with 
the  Russian  troops  engaged  in  hunting  down  the 
rebellious  Cossacks  of  the  Jaik,  who  under  their 


THE  HETMAN  PLATOV  173 

unworthy  leader,  Pougatchev,  were  defending  their 
right  to  follow  out  their  own  religious  customs  and 
beliefs.  After  the  capture  and  execution  of  the 
"False  Tsar  Peter,"  Platov  continued  to  serve  in 
the  border  garrison  along  the  Kouban,  earning  dis- 
tinction and  experience  in  campaigns  against  the 
courageous  Tcherkess,  Lesghians  and  the  other 
mountain  tribesmen  of  these  romantic  regions. 

The  outbreak  of  Catherine's  second  war  against 
the  Turks  was  welcomed  by  Platov  as  offering  an 
opportunity  for  more  rapid  promotion.  At  the 
famous  siege  of  Otchakov  he  found  himself  pro- 
moted to  be  a  colonel  of  Cossacks,  and  in  1789 
(when  his  regiment  captured  the  famous  Turkish 
general  Gazan  Pasha)  Potemkin  consented  to  lend 
him  his  powerful  support,  the  surest  road  to  further 
promotion.  To  please  her  favourite  the  empress 
appointed  Platov  "Hetman  of  all  the  Cossacks  of 
the  Don,"  and  to  this  title  was  shortly  added  that 
of  Governor  of  the  province  of  Ekaterinoslav. 

A  few  months  after  this  event  the  young  het- 
man's  reputation  for  personal  bravery  and  his  con- 
tinued warlike  success  caused  Catherine  to  express 
a  wish  to  meet  the  "most  famous  Cossack  of  her 
armies."  This  high  compliment,  which  was  con- 
veyed to  Platov  through  his  protector,  Potemkin, 
involved  a  long  and  tedious  journey  to  Petrograd. 
At  court  he  was  received  with  favours  which  might 
well  have  turned  the  coui'se  of  his  career,  or  even 


174  THE  COSSACKS 

engaged  him  in  a  dangerous  rivalry  with  his  patron 
the  favourite. 

The  great  Catherine,  although  by  no  means  in 
her  first  youth,  had  never  ceased  to  show  her  in- 
terest in  gallant  —  and  especially  in  handsome 
—  soldiers.  For  those  who  bravely  served  her 
she  considered  no  reward  too  exalted.  So 
pleased  was  the  Empress  with  the  young  Cossack's 
martial  yet  modest  bearing  that  she  even  accorded 
him  the  honour  of  personally  conducting  him 
through  the  marvels  of  the  imperial  apartments. 
For  nearly  a  week  the  Winter  Palace  hummed 
with  the  news  of  his  good  fortune.  Ambassadors 
of  Great  Powers  began  to  concern  themselves  with 
a  possible  change  in  the  imperial  "policy"  of  the 
day.  But  age  had  not  made  Catherine  more  con- 
stant. Soon  tiring  of  the  simple  and  soldierly 
manners  of  her  new  favourite,  an  intimation  that 
she  would  no  longer  detain  him  from  his  military 
duties  ended  his  brief  career  as  a  courtier.  We  can 
well  imagine  with  what  relief  young  Platov  quitted 
the  stifling  atmosphere  of  the  Winter  Palace,  heavy 
with  scent  and  intrigue,  to  breathe  once  more  the 
pure  breezes  of  the  Don  steppes. 

Yet  this  interlude  in  Platov's  military  career  does 
not  seem  to  have  caused  him  to  lose  the  favour  of 
the  powerful  Potemkin.  In  their  cynical  enjoy- 
ment of  power,  the  group  of  "ministers"  surround- 
ing the  Empress  had  little  time  for  jealousy.  Under 
Zoubov,  another  favourite  promoted  by  Catherine 


THE   HETMAN  PLATOV  175 

to  be  *'Hetman  of  all  the  Cossack  Armies,"  he 
fought  through  the  Persian  campaign  of  1795  and 
was  present  at  the  fall  of  Baku  and  Elizabethpol. 
The  cross  of  the  Order  of  Saint  Vladimir  and  a 
sword  bearing  the  legend  in  diamonds  "In  recogni- 
tion of  Bravery,"  was  the  reward  of  Platov's  ser- 
vices at  court  and  in  the  field. 

The  death  of  Catherine  the  Great  brought  her 
son,  the  Emperor  Paul,  to  the  throne.  This  im- 
perial Hamlet  —  whose  youth  was  constantly  over- 
shadowed by  the  fate  of  his  father  —  had  always 
considered  his  mother  in  the  light  of  a  usurper. 
Constant  brooding  over  his  wrongs  and  misfortunes 
had  made  him  in  reality  little  better  than  a  mad- 
man. "You  must  know,"  he  once  declared  to  a  for- 
eign ambassador  soon  after  his  accession,  "that 
there  is  no  one  worth  considering  in  Russia,  except 
the  person  to  whom  I  am  speaking,  and  then  only 
during  the  time  I  am  addressing  myself  to  him." 
But  the  Emperor  Paul  had  little  of  the  character  of 
I^ouis  XIV  except  his  overwhelming  self-conceit. 
The  Tsar  hated  everyone  who  had  found  favour  in 
his  mother's  eyes.  Every  plan  by  which  she  had 
raised  her  adopted  country  to  be  the  first  Power  of 
Europe,  even  the  glorious  military  traditions  of 
Catherine's  reign,  were  set  at  naught  and  re\ased. 
Paul's  mania  for  reforming  and  his  passion  for 
copying  Prussian  models  did  not  even  spare  the 
national  uniforms  of  the  Russian  army,  so  suitable 
for  the  changing  climate  and  conditions  of  steppe 


176  THE  COSSACKS 

warfare.  These  were  replaced  by  tight-fitting 
Prussian  military  tunics,  plaited  queues,  buckled 
shoes,  gaiters  and  the  awkward  beaver  hats  worn 
by  Frederick's  troops  of  the  line.* 

How  seriously  the  Emperor  was  attached  to  these 
military  details  is  shown  by  his  treatment  of  the 
veteran  general  Souvarov,  hero  of  a  hundred  vic- 
torious battles,  who  was  sent  to  Siberia  for  com- 
posing a  little  rhyme  in  which  the  virtues  of  "wig- 
powder"  and  "gun-powder"  were  somewhat  disre- 
spectfully compared. 

"Russia  no  longer  looks  for  conquest,  nor  war- 
like aggrandizement  —  only  for  peace."  This  was 
the  platitudinous  message  which  Paul's  diplomats 
were  instructed  to  deliver  to  a  distracted  Europe! 

In  pursuit  of  his  mania  for  undoing  the  schemes 
of  his  great  predecessor,  the  Russian  troops  on  the 
frontiers  of  Persia  were  so  abruptly  withdrawn 
that  the  brave  little  kingdom  of  Georgia,  which 
for  centuries  had  formed  the  bulwark  of  Chris- 
tianity against  the  forces  of  Islam,  was  left  to  bear, 
almost  without  warning,  the  brunt  of  the  uneven 
struggle. 

During  this  time  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  the 
Hetman  Platov,  like  many  others  of  Catherine's 
party,  had  the  misfortune  to  fall  under  the  morbid 
displeasure  of  the  Emperor.  No  reasons  were  given 
for  the  order  which  exiled  him  to  the  provincial 
capital  of  Kostroma,  from  which  place  he  was  soon 

*  See  Rambaud,  "Histoire  de  Russie,"  p.  513. 


THE   HETMAN  PLATOV  177 

afterwards  brought  under  heavy  guard  to  Petro- 
grad  and  imprisoned  in  the  fortress  of  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Paul.* 

Platov  has  himself  described  the  painful  condi- 
tions of  his  captivity  passed  in  company  with  many 
other  distinguished  officials  of  Catherine's  reign. 
How  this  second  involuntary  stay  in  the  capital 
must  have  recalled  strange  memories  of  his  first 
visit!  "Even  in  Summer  the  dampness  and  cold 
which  radiate  from  the  walls  of  our  prisons  pene- 
trate to  the  very  bones.  In  the  hot  season  we  all 
suffer  from  fever.  In  winter,  however,  our  condi- 
tion is  far  worse.  We  must  then  huddle  together 
about  the  stoves  to  keep  from  freezing,  in  spite  of 
the  blinding  sting  of  the  wood  smoke  which  fills  our 
cells.  Nearly  all  of  us  are  half  blind  from  this 
cause.  Our  only  distraction  is  to  watch  the  antics 
of  the  rats.  These  are  everywhere,  but  though  at 
first  odious,  they  have  finally  became  my  most 
sympathetic  companions." 

Like  many  another  brave  soldier  of  Catherine's 
army,  Platov  might  have  remained  forgotten 
among  the  sad  company  gathered  in  this  famous 
fortress  until  death  released  him,  had  not  a  fresh 
turn  in  the  weather-vane  of  Paul's  foreign  policy 
incidentally     recalled     him     to     his     sovereign's 

*  It  is  now  known  that  Platov  was  accused  of  tam- 
pering with  the  loyalty  of  the  Kirghiz  and  Kalmouk 
tribesmen  with  whom  the  honest  soldier  had  become  popu- 
lar during  his  campaign  along  the  Kouban. 


178  THE  COSSACKS 

memoiy.  The  course  of  the  French  Revolution 
had  been  diverted  by  the  personal  ambitions  of 
Bonaparte  into  channels  more  acceptable  to  Paul's 
autocratic  views.  Moreover  the  cowardice  or  treach- 
ery shown  by  his  Austrian  allies  during  the  cam- 
paign against  the  French  in  Switzerland  had  cooled 
his  enthusiasm  for  the  Hapsburgs.  Napoleon's 
great  victory  over  the  Austrian  armies  at  Marengo 
was  applauded  all  over  Russia.  The  English  am- 
bassador, always  alert  to  note  the  varying  changes 
of  Paul's  enthusiasms,  now  reported  that  "por- 
traits of  Bonaparte  are  found  even  in  the  public 
rooms  of  the  imperial  palaces." 

Bonaparte,  on  the  other  hand,  lost  no  oppor- 
tunity to  reconcile  Paul  to  the  great  changes  which 
had  taken  place  since  the  Revolution  on  the  map 
of  Europe.  Soon  after  an  interchange  of  notes 
marking  beyond  a  doubt  the  new  disposition  of  the 
Russian  foreign  office,  the  courts  of  Europe  heard 
with  astonishment  of  a  "great  project"  upon  which 
the  armies  of  France  and  Russia  were  about  to 
embark.  From  the  correspondence  which  was  now 
exchanged  between  Paul  and  Napoleon  with  re- 
spect to  an  invasion  of  India  it  is  difficult  to  deter- 
mine how  deeply  Napoleon  entered  into  the  prac- 
tical details  of  the  adventurous  scheme.  His  doubts 
concerning  its  successful  outcome  are  everywhere 
apparent.  But  as  a  diversion  likely  to  trouble  pub- 
lic opinion  in  Great  Britain,  and  as  a  lure  whereby 
the  Russian  monarch  might  be  more  firmly  attached 


THE    HETMAN  PLATOV  179 

to  his  system,  he  undoubtedly  saw  in  this  venture  a 
useful  adjunct  of  his  policies.  In  documents  mi- 
nutely setting  forth  the  military  itinerary  which  lay 
before  the  Franco-Russian  troops  may  still  be  seen 
the  objections  noted  down  in  the  handwriting  of 
the  greatest  general  of  his  age,  followed  by  the 
"triumphant"  refutations  of  the  Russian  Em- 
peror scrawled  in  an  unformed  schoolboy's  hand. 
According  to  this  plan  thirty-five  thousand  picked 
French  troops  (at  Paul's  request  these  were  to  be 
commanded  by  General  Massena,  the  hero  of  the 
great  Russian  disaster  at  Zurich)  were  to  descend 
the  Danube  in  vessels  requisitioned  from  the  Aus- 
trian government.  Crossing  the  Black  Sea  to 
Taganrog,  flatboats  were  then  to  carry  them  up 
the  course  of  the  river  Don  to  Piati-Isbiankaja. 
Here  it  was  planned  that  the  expedition  should 
march  overland  to  Tsaritzin  on  the  Volga.  De- 
scending that  great  river  to  Astrakhan,  the  French 
detachment  would  cross  the  Caspian  to  Asterabad, 
where  a  corps  of  35,000  Russians  were  to  await 
their  arrival. 

Impatient  to  take  the  first  steps  in  the  execution 
of  his  "great  design,"  Paul  now  ordered  Russian 
troops  once  more  to  occupy  the  Caucasus  and  on 
the  demand  of  the  son  of  the  heroic  Tsar  Heraclius 
of  Georgia,  this  warlike  little  kingdom  was  peace- 
fully incorporated  in  the  Russian  empire.  At  the 
same  time  General  Knorring  was  ordered  to  lead  a 
Russian  division  against  the  upper  Indus,  passing 


180  THE  COSSACKS 

through  the  country  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
powerful  Khans  of  Khiva  and  Bokhara.  To  co- 
operate with  this  difficult  campaign  the  hetman  of 
the  Cossacks  of  the  Don,  Orlov  Denissov,  was 
ordered  to  proceed  at  once  to  Orenburg. 

The  soldier  who,  of  all  his  officers,  could  best 
aid  the  emperor  in  carrying  out  the  proposed  plan, 
was  a  forgotten  prisoner  in  the  fortress  of  St.  Peter 
and  St.  Paul.  To  transfer  the  ex-hetman  Platov 
from  a  prison  cell  to  the  command  of  an  important 
military  expedition  was  an  act  which  presented  no 
incongruities  to  a  convinced  autocrat  like  Paul. 
The  imprisoned  Cossack  chieftain,  thus  suddenly 
drawn  from  the  society  of  rats  and  convicts  by  a 
summons  to  the  Imperial  Council,  was  confident 
that  his  last  hour  had  come.  Shaved  and  dressed  in 
his  old-fashioned  uniform  —  scorning  the  assur- 
ances of  his  jailers  —  he  bade  farewell  to  his  com- 
rades, and  marched  bravely  forth  to  his  expected 
execution.  His  surprise  may  be  imagined  when  he 
found  himself  suddenly  introduced  by  a  side  door 
to  the  Winter  Palace,  where,  after  a  meal  such  as 
he  had  not  enjoyed  for  months,  he  was  led  directly 
into  the  private  study  of  the  Emperor. 

Reassured  by  the  Emperor's  manner  (which  as 
Platov  himself  tells  us  seemed  to  ignore  both  the 
hetman's  past  wrongs  and  Paul's  share  therein) 
the  prisoner  of  yesterday  was  invited  to  give  his 
opinion  upon  the  intricate  military  affairs  which 
now  engaged  the  Tsar's  attention. 


THE   HETMAN  PLATOV  181 

On  the  table  before  the  strangely  assorted  pair 
were  spread  out  the  only  available  maps  of  the 
almost  unknown  regions  of  Asia  where  Paul  had 
planned  to  initiate  the  role  of  Alexander  the  Great. 
'No  one  knew  better  than  Platov  himself  the  unsur- 
mountable  difficulties  of  these  desert  wastes.  "Here 
is  the  path  I  have  chosen  for  you  —  the  route  of 
Alexander  the  Great,"  said  the  Emperor  dramati- 
cally.    "Can  you  follow  it,  to  India?" 

Although  recognizing  at  a  glance  the  military 
faults  and  incongruities  of  the  scheme  proposed  by 
the  Emperor  Paul,  Platov  (as  he  declares  in 
his  memoirs)  was  fully  "resolved  to  follow  any  line 
which  led  away  from  the  prison  of  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul."  Without  further  committing  himself 
he  gravely  nodded  his  approval  of  everything  the 
imperial  strategist  had  proposed.  More  than  ever 
satisfied  with  his  own  plan  and  his  mamier  of  choos- 
ing a  general  to  carry  it  out,  the  Emperor  dismissed 
his  late  prisoner.  On  the  lapel  of  Platov's  coat, 
stained  and  discoloured  by  the  smoke  and  dirt  of  his 
prison,  glittered  the  high  Russian  order  of  St.  John 
of  Jerusalem.  In  his  pocket  was  a  draft  on  the  im- 
perial treasmy  for  an  almost  unlimited  amount, 
and  a  snuffbox  ornamented  with  the  insignificant 
features  of  his  master.  It  is  more  than  probable 
that  Platov,  whose  breast  had  already  been  deco- 
rated by  the  great  Catherine  "with  as  many  crosses 
as  a  graveyard,"  cared  but  little  for  these  honours 
compared  to  the  liberty  he  thus  so  strangely 
regained. 


182  THE  COSSACKS 

Without  waiting  the  expiration  of  the  three  days 
graciously  allowed  him  in  Petrograd,  the  hetman 
set  out  for  the  Don,  where  he  was  received  as  one 
retui'ning  from  the  dead.  Cutting  short  all  demon- 
strations of  welcome  he  began  at  once  to  gather  the 
troops  of  the  warlike  community,  without,  however, 
disclosing  the  objects  of  the  ill-planned  campaign 
upon  which  they  were  to  set  forth.  Every  Cossack 
capable  of  carrying  a  lance  was  ordered  to  report 
at  a  given  rendezvous,  bringing  with  him  two 
horses  and  six  weeks'  provisions.  In  the  month  of 
January,  1801,  27,500  Cossacks  of  the  Don  were 
able  to  set  forth  on  their  long  march  towards  the 
deserts  of  Asia. 

In  Orenburg  the  Russian  governor,  Bakmetiev, 
had  assembled  provisions,  camel  transport  and 
even  a  corps  of  interpreters  speaking  the  languages 
or  dialects  of  the  numerous  tribes  whose  countries 
they  were  to  traverse.  Before  their  departure 
from  the  fortress  a  letter  from  Paul  was  read  prom- 
ising the  Cossacks  "all  the  riches  of  India."  Plung- 
ing boldly  into  the  almost  trackless  wilderness  that 
lay  beyond  the  frontier  outposts  the  Russian  troops 
travelled  like  mariners  across  an  unknown  sea, 
marching,  or  rather  navigating,  by  means  of  the 
compass  and  observed  positions  of  the  stars. 

On  the  horizon  hovered  great  bands  of  horse- 
men, Bashkirs  and  Kalmoucks,  astonished  to  see  a 
body  of  troops  so  numerous  that  they  could  not  be 
attacked  by  any  known  tactics  of  desert  warfare. 


THE   HETMAN  PLATOV  183 

Without  fear  of  surprise  or  ambuscade  the  troops 
marched  at  their  ease  and  in  open  order.    But  an- 
other danger  now  threatened  the  Cossack  army. 
The    distant    objective    of    their    march    having 
become  rumoured  about,  the  Kii-ghiz  camel  drivers 
began  deserting  with  their  animals,  thus  depriving 
the  Russians  of  the  only  means  of  transport.     It 
even  became  necessary  to  abandon  a  large  part  of 
the  provisions,  tents  and  other  equipment  neces- 
sary for  the  troops.    Moreover,  on  accoimt  of  the 
intense  cold  the  supply  of  fuel  was  rapidly  disap- 
pearing.   The  Cossacks,  unaccustomed  to  economy 
in  this  respect,  insisted  upon  building  roaring  fires 
during  the  long  cold  nights.     Sickness  also  broke 
out  in  the  ranks  and  the  problem  of  transporting 
those  no  longer  capable  of  remaining  in  the  saddle 
added  to  Platov's  difficulties.    In  the  absence  of  all 
recognizable  marks  in  the  featureless  landscape  one 
day's  march  appeared  to  the  impatient  and  half 
mutinous  troops  precisely  like  that  of  the  preceding 
day.    The  desert  mirage,  amazingly  vivid  in  these 
latitudes,  showed  them  the  domes  of  distant  cities 
and  oases  which  they  took  to  be  Khiva  or  Bokhara, 
and  the  next  moment  dissolved  these  faiiy  scenes 
ito  clouds  of  mist.    Such  phenomena  increased  the 
superstitious  fears  of  the  Cossacks.    Many  declared 
that  the  whole  army  was  bewitched  by  Tartar  sor- 
cerers and  that  they  were  all  marching  foi'ward 
without  advancing  towards  their  goal.* 

*  The  old  atavistic  fear  of  the  Tartars  has  fostered 
among   the   moujiks    and    Cossacks    of   the    frontiers    a 


184  THE  COSSACKS 

At  last  the  hetman  was  obliged  to  yield  to  the 
demands  of  the  mutineers.  Glad  of  an  excuse 
which  hindered  him  from  further  carrying  out 
plans  he  considered  impossible  of  execution,  he 
ordered  that  a  camp  be  formed  to  rest  the  tired 
horses  and  attend  to  the  sick.  At  the  same  time  he 
sent  out  scouts  and  patrols  in  order  to  obtain  news 
of  Knorring's  expedition.  All  soon  realized  that 
this  halt  was  but  the  preliminary  to  an  inevitable 
return.  In  the  mirage  which  haunted  the  desert 
horizon  Platov  now  began  to  see  once  more  the 
slender  golden  spire  which  crowns  the  grim  sil- 
houette of  the  fortress  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul. 

It  was  at  this  critical  juncture  that  a  messenger 
arrived  with  the  welcome  news  of  the  sudden  death 
of  the  Kussian  Emperor.  Paul  had  been  the  vic- 
tim of  a  palace  revolution  which  resulted  in  seating 
his  son,  the  popular  young  Grand  Duke  Alexander, 
on  the  throne.  All  Russia  breathed  more  freely, 
but  nowhere,  we  may  be  sure,  was  the  news  of  this 
change  more  welcome  than  in  the  famine-stricken 
camp  where,  on  the  pitiless  Turcoman  desert,  the 
uncalculating  ambition  and  faulty  geography  of  a 
tyrant  had  engaged  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don  in  a 
hopeless  quest.     Thus  ended  the  first  and  last  at- 

firm  belief  in  the  uncanny  powers  of  the  yellow  races. 
The  magic  lore  of  the  Tartar  priests  and  Kalmouck 
bonzes  is  held  in  high  respect  to  the  present  day  among 
the  superstitious  peasants  of  the  Russian  frontier.  See 
M.  P.  Price's  "Siberia." 


THE    HETMAN  PLATOV  185 

tempt  of  an  invasion  of  India  by  land,  a  plan  which, 
since  the  days  of  Peter  the  Great,  had  tempted  the 
ambition  of  succeeding  Russian  sovereigns. 

The  years  that  ensued  between  the  events  just 
related  and  the  outbreak  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  of 
1807-1812  were  perhaps  the  happiest  of  Platov's 
life.  The  Russian  biographer  assures  us  "the  het- 
man  was  looked  upon  by  the  Don  Cossacks  as  a 
father  to  whom  the  wants  of  all  the  Cossacks  were 
as  well  known  as  tlie  needs  of  his  own  family."  The 
peaceful  duties  of  administrating  the  Cossack  stan- 
itzi  kept  him  more  busily  employed  than  during  his 
most  energetic  campaigns.  The  capital  of  the  Don 
provinces,  Novotcherkask,  was  moved  under  his 
direction  to  its  present  site,  and  the  ancient  capital, 
always  subject  to  the  inundations  of  the  Don, 
was  abandoned.  The  foundations  of  several 
important  public  buildings  were  laid,  and  among 
the  first  of  these  a  cathedral  and  public  schools. 
The  education  of  the  Cossack  children  was  the  sub- 
ject of  the  hetman's  particular  attention.  A  school 
system  was  organized  caring  for  the  needs  of  the 
children  in  the  most  remote  stanitzi.  Those  who 
could  not  otherwise  secure  the  services  of  a  teacher 
were  brought  to  Novotcherkask  at  the  public  ex- 
pense. 

At  the  same  time  Flatov  used  all  his  powerful 
influence  to  preserve  the  traditions  of  Cossack  na- 
tional life.  To  those  who  wished  to  change  the 
"old  frontier  ways"  he  pointed  out  that  it  was  only 


186  THE  COSSACKS 

their  military  organization  which  differentiated  the 
Cossacks  from  the  sm*rounding  peasant  population, 
whose  abject  condition  they  all  despised.  Towards 
a  class  of  young  Cossack  officers,  who  thought  by 
abandoning  their  characteristic  uniforms  and  by 
imitating  the  ways  and  manners  of  the  local  Rus- 
sian nobility  to  raise  themselves  above  their  fellows, 
he  was  especially  severe.  Recognizing  that  in  uni- 
versal service  —  the  basis  of  the  Cossack  system 
of  land  tenure  —  lay  their  chief  usefulness  to  the 
Russian  state,  he  mercilessly  enforced  the  disci- 
pline necessary  to  ensure  their  privileged  position. 
Even  at  the  present  day  the  lessons  taught  by  the 
worthy  hetman  are  playing  their  part  in  keeping 
the  Cossacks  alive  to  their  duties  in  the  great  strug- 
gle which  Russian  democracy  is  waging  against 
Bolshevism  and  the  poison  of  Marxian  Kultur. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  first  Russian  campaign 
against  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  in  1807,  Platov 
was  nearly  sixty  years  of  age.  He  might,  there- 
fore, have  honourably  asked  for  permission  to  con- 
tinue his  calm  and  useful  retirement.  But  like  an- 
other famous  Cossack  leader,  Mazeppa,  his  most 
renowned  exploits  were  to  be  performed  after  the 
age  when  a  general  —  and  especially  a  leader  of 
hght  cavalry  —  is  considered  unfit  for  active  ser- 
vice. During  the  Turkish  wars  Russia's  Cossack 
cavalry  and  the  peculiar  tactics  which  their  officers 
had  perfected  had  aroused  the  interest  of  military 
students  all  over  Europe.    But  although  invaluable 


THE   HETMAN  PLATOV  18T 

for  scouting  and  reconnoissance,  and  for  harrying 
the  flanks  of  an  enemy  or  turning  defeat  into  a 
rout,  the  Cossacks  were  nevertheless  the  despair 
of  the  German  and  Austrian  tacticians  of  the  Em- 
peror Alexander's  staff.  The  ideal  soldier,  ac- 
cording to  these  experts,  was  embodied  in  the  little 
blocks  of  wood  they  could  mancsuvre  so  convinc- 
ingly across  their  field  maps. 

When,  as  only  too  often  happened,  these  theoreti- 
cal operations  refused  to  repeat  themselves  as 
planned,  it  was  the  Russian  troops,  especially  the 
Cossacks,  who  were  generally  blamed.  But  Prince 
Koutusov,  the  popular  hero  of  Catherine's  wars, 
who  recognized  the  irreconcilable  differences  be- 
tween the  Russian  and  German  methods  and  shared 
the  national  "distrust"  of  Alexander's  foreign  ad- 
visers, placed  great  reliance  upon  the  Cossack 
levies.  His  whole  campaign  against  Napoleon's 
army  after  the  disaster  of  Moscow  was  indeed  a 
strategic  development  of  Cossack  principles  —  the 
manoeuvres  which  had  been  practised  for  centuries 
upon  the  broad  plain  of  Scythia  since  the  days  of 
Darius'  invasions.* 

To  carrj^  out  his  plan  of  a  long  and  orderly  re- 
treat —  leading  his  enemy  ever  deeper  into  the 
treacherous  steppes  —  he  needed  just  such  mobile 
troops  as  were  furnished  by  the  soldiers  of  the  Don, 

*  Tolstoi's  famous  novel,  "War  and  Peace,"  contains 
an  interesting  account,  historically  true,  of  the  military 
conditions  prevailing  in  Russia  at  this  time. 


188  THE  COSSACKS 

the  Kouban,  the  Terek  and  the  Urals.  But  only  a 
leader  enjoying  their  respect  and  confidence  could 
turn  their  military  talents  to  the  best  account. 
Platov's  personal  popularity  and  prestige  made 
him  an  invaluable  leader  of  these  redoubtable 
squadrons  among  whom  the  free  Cossack  spirit 
too  often  degenerated  into  license  and  indiscipline. 
For  this  reason,  in  spite  of  his  advanced  years, 
Koutousov  urged  him  to  take  part  in  the  coming 
campaign. 

In  treating  of  the  glorious  campaign  of  1812  — 
the  uprising  of  the  entire  Russian  nation  against 
Napoleon's  ambition  for  World  Power  —  only  the 
part  played  by  the  Cossack  troops  will  be  consid- 
ered here.  Thirty-six  thousand  Cossacks  formed 
the  vanguard  of  the  heroic  army  which  first  ad- 
vanced against  Napoleon.  These  were  divided  into 
fifty  polki  or  "regiments,"  each  provided  with  its 
own  light  artillery.  The  flying  coliMnn  under  Pla- 
tov's immediate  command  was  composed  of  four- 
teen regiments,  to  which  were  added  a  few  chas- 
seurs  and  dragoons.  The  principal  duty  assigned 
to  the  Donskoi  troops  was  that  of  covering  the 
flanks  of  the  second  army  under  the  command  of 
his  old  friend  and  patron,  Prince  Bagration. 

A  great  rivalry  soon  sprang  up  between  Na- 
poleon's scouts  —  Polish  uhlans  and  hussars  —  and 
the  Cossack  cavalry.  During  the  advance  of  King 
Jerome's  army  (at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
French  attack)  three  regiments  of  uhlans  on  their 


THE    HETMAN  PLATOV  189 

way  to  Novgoroudka  were  cut  off  in  the  village  of 
Karelichi  by  two  regiments  of  Platov's  troops  * 
The  greater  part  of  the  uhlans  fell  or  were  taken 
prisoner  at  the  first  onslaught,  while  the  rest  were 
pursued  to  the  very  outpost  of  Jerome's  head- 
quarters. 

For  more  than  a  month  these  combats  between 
Polish  and  Cossack  cavalry  continued.  It  was 
largely  due  to  such  minor  engagements  fought  be- 
tween these  old-time  enemies  that  the  advance  of 
the  main  French  army  was  so  seriously  retarded,  a 
delay  which  enabled  Bagration  to  retire  in  good 
order  to  his  entrenchments  at  Bobrinsk. 

Tliis  task  accomplished  Platov  was  ordered  to 
cross  the  Dnieper  and  to  join  the  first  army.  'While 
attached  to  this  new  command  Platov  and  his  Cos- 
sacks witnessed  the  terrible  disaster  of  the  first  bat- 
tle of  Bordino.  While  this  engagement  was  not 
of  a  character  to  give  the  Cossacks  an  opportunity 
to  employ  their  peculiar  tactics,  nevertheless  Prince 
Koutousov,  the  aged  commander-in-chief,  declared 
that  Platov  was  "getting  too  old  for  active  service." 
Showing  little  mercy  for  an  ofiicer  v/ho  had  grown 
grey  in  the  same  service  as  himself,  Koutousov  re- 
lieved the  veteran  of  his  command  in  the  field, 
ordering  him  to  proceed  to  the  Don  in  order  to 
ffather  new  reinforcements. 

o 

Platov's  soldierly  rejoinder  to  this  crushing  blow 
was    redoubled    activity    in    serving    the    cause 
*  The  Fifth  Isvolaski  and  the  Second  Karpor. 


190  THE  COSSACKS 

of  his  beloved  country,  now  grown  so  desperate. 
Every  Cossack  military  colony  had  long  since  been 
swept  of  recruits  at  the  first  call  to  arms.  Only 
the  old  men  and  children  too  young  to  bear  arms 
had  been  left  to  help  the  women  in  tilling  the  field. 
It  was  among  these  veterans  of  Catherine's  wars 
and  their  younger  grandchildren  that  Platov  de- 
termined to  find  material  for  his  new  regiments. 
Weapons  were  improvised  from  the  ancient 
trophies  of  former  Cossack  campaigns,  taken  from 
the  walls  and  made  over  to  suit  more  modern  mu- 
nitions. From  the  Monument  of  Victory  erected 
after  the  Turkish  wars  before  the  new  church  in 
Novotcherkask  six  ancient  bronze  cannon  were  re- 
covered and  made  serviceable  by  mounting  them 
on  cart  wheels.  In  an  incredibly  short  space  of 
time  this  heroic  "forlorn"  was  ready  for  the  road. 
Between  grey-headed  heroes  who  had  served  with 
Potemkin  and  Souvarov  were  placed  children  of 
twelve  and  fourteen  glowing  with  pleasure  at  this 
unexpected  privilege  of  playing  a  soldier's  part. 
None  but  a  Cossack  population  could  have  pro- 
duced such  a  levy.  At  their  head  marched  the  sep- 
tuagenarian hetman,  now  once  more  serving  as  the 
simple  colonel  of  a  Cossack  polk. 

The  arrival  of  these  recruits  in  the  Russian 
headquarters  camp  at  Tarantino  was  the  occasion 
of  a  spirited  ovation.  Without  regard  to  the  pres- 
ence of  Koutousov,  the  Cossack  sires,  in  high  spirits, 
showered  good-natured   abuse   upon   the   regular 


THE   HETMAN  PLATOV  191 

regiments  drawn  up  at  parade.  "We  have  come  to 
rescue  you  with  all  our  poor  little  grandchildren," 
they  cried. 

Already  they  had  proven  their  worth.  A  sotnia 
from  one  of  these  veteran  regiments  (the  regiment 
of  Isvolaski)  had  averaged  sixty  versts  a  day  in 
their  march  from  the  Don  to  Tarantino,  a  record 
scarcely  equalled  in  Russian  military  annals.  Even 
the  stern  Koutousov  was  moved  at  the  sight  of 
these  glorious  recruits  reporting  for  duty  long  be- 
fore the  time  set  for  their  arrival.  When  among 
the  greybeards  in  their  ranks  he  recognized  com- 
rades-at-arms  who  had  served  with  him  in  former 
campaigns,  he  called  Platov  from  the  head  of  his 
regiment  and  fell  into  his  outstretched  anns.  While 
the  two  veterans  mingled  their  tears  of  joy  and 
reconciliation,  fathers,  sons  and  grandchildren 
toasted  each  other  with  boisterous  Cossack  cheer 
around  the  same  bivouacs.* 

The  delayed  retreat  of  Napoleon's  Grand  Army 
which  began  soon  after  the  events  described  now 
gave  the  Cossacks  their  terrible  opportunity.  Dur- 
ing the  long  stay  in  Moscow,  the  French  troops  had 
lost  all  discipline.  Against  their  disordered  flee- 
ing host,  concerned  only  with  reaching  the  Russian 
frontier,  the  Cossacks  were  able  to  drive  home  their 
continual,  untiring  attacks.  To  assist  them  in 
gathering  the  terrible  harvest  peasant  bands  sprang 
up  everywhere.     Even  these  undisciplined  parti- 

*  A.  E.  Tarasov,  "The  Hetman  Platov." 


192  THE  COSSACKS 

sans  and  such  feeble  troops  as  the  veteran  levies  of 
the  Don  could  now  venture  to  measure  their 
strength  against  the  most  famous  regiments  of 
Napoleon's  guard.  The  English  "Cossack"  Wilson 
in  his  memoirs  recounts  a  ghastly  saying  current  in 
the  Cossack  ranks,  "It  is  a  shame  to  leave  such 
skinny  ghosts  wandering  about  without  their 
graves."' 

Platov,  restored  once  more  to  service  with  his 
old  division,  had  singled  out  the  corps  commanded 
by  the  Viceroy  of  Italy  as  his  special  prey,  troops 
which  still  courageously  kept  up  a  semblance  of 
discipline.  All  day,  through  the  driving  snow,  the 
fugitives  saw  far  across  the  terrifying  expanse  of 
white  plain  about  them,  a  long  dark  line  following 
their  march.  Just  out  of  musket  shot,  bands  of 
Cossacks  prowled  awaiting  nightfall.  Around 
every  bivouac  their  fitful  sleep  was  haunted  by  a 
nightmare  of  Cossack  pikes.  To  fall  but  a  few 
paces  behind  the  column  meant  a  terrible  death  at 
the  hands  of  outraged  peasantry  and  their  Cossack 
protectors. 

On  October  28,  near  Rabouga,  an  attack  in 
force  was  made  by  a  Cossack  flying  column,  and 
the  long  straggling  line  of  fugitives,  dragging  it- 
self like  a  wounded  snake  across  the  steppes,  was 
cut  in  two.  The  rear  half,  thus  hopelessly  cut  off, 
tried  to  save  itself  by  breaking  up  into  little  bands. 
Sixty-four  cannon  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Cos- 
sacks.   The  greater  part  of  these  troops  perished 


THE   HETMAN  PLATOV  193 

from  cold  on  the  steppes  or  were  killed  by  the 
Cossacks.  AVhen  the  unfortunate  Viceroy  had 
taken  refuge  at  Smolensk  (without  cavalry  or 
transport  and  with  only  twelve  cannon),  Platov, 
gathering  fifteen  regiments  and  all  the  Don  artil- 
lery, next  engaged  Ney  and  the  heroic  rearguard, 
taking  from  the  "Lion,"  as  even  his  enemies  called 
the  famous  marshal,  1300  prisoners  and  four 
cannon. 

At  Kovno,  where  the  enemy  were  at  last  driven 
from  Russian  soil,  Ney  and  his  rearguard  made  a 
final  heroic  stand.  After  another  victory  stub- 
bornly won,  Platov  and  his  Cossacks  heard  a  Te 
Deum  in  the  public  square,  the  horsemen  drawn  up 
in  grim  and  silent  ranks,  while  the  inhabitants 
knelt  about  them.  Before  the  bells  which  rang  out 
so  joyfully  in  the  cold  air  had  ceased  their  pealing, 
the  Cossacks  swept  beyond  the  frontier  into 
"Europe."* 

History  next  notices  Platov  and  his  Cossacks 
preparing  to  take  part  in  the  attack  on  Danzig,  still 
in  the  possession  of  Napoleon's  German  allies.  The 
news  that  Frederick  William  of  Prussia  had  finally 
summoned  up  courage  to  join  the  Alliance  in  the 
"Befreiungskrieg"  caused  the  surrender  of  that 
place.  On  the  road  near  Kahce,  Platov  was  sent  to 
meet  the  none  too  heroic  Hohenzollern  and  soon 
after  conducted  him  to  the  General  Staff  of  Em- 

*  The  true  Slav  always  refers  to  the  land  west  of 
Russia  in  this  way. 


194  THE  COSSACKS 

peror  Alexander,  the  real  Liberator  of  Germany. 
At  the  famous  "Battle  of  the  Nations,"  fought  at 
Leipzig  in  October,  1813,  Platov  received  the  Cross 
of  St.  Andrew. 

To  reward  his  conduct  during  the  engagement 
near  Frankfort-on-Oder,  there  remained  no  higher 
honom'  to  bestow  upon  the  hetman.  The  thanks 
of  his  sovereign  and  a  diamond  aigrette  to  orna- 
ment his  Cossack  Tshapka  were  the  only  official 
means  of  recognizing  the  valor  of  his  troops.  It 
was,  perhaps,  fortunate  that  the  war  was  drawing 
to  a  close ! 

The  last  warlike  enterprise  in  which  we  hear  of 
Platov  and  his  Cossacks  was  their  chivalrous  at- 
tempt to  rescue  the  captive  Pope  at  Fontainebleau. 
But  the  unfortunate  head  of  the  Roman  Church 
(dragged  about  together  with  the  royal  treasures 
of  France  in  the  wake  of  the  fallen  conqueror) 
had  already  left  that  place.  Thus  the  strangest 
booty  that  could  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the 
orthodox  Cossacks  of  the  Don  escaped  their  well- 
meant  efforts. 

Soon  after  the  peace  of  Paris,  Platov  made  his 
famous  visit  to  London  of  which  we  have  already 
had  occasion  to  speak.  The  "hundred  days"  fol- 
lowing Napoleon's  return  from  the  island  of  Elba 
cost  the  veteran  a  last  long  ride  across  Europe  to 
the  battle  of  Waterloo. 

His  next  return  to  the  now  peaceful  shores  of  the 
Don  was,  however,  to  be  the  last.    For  three  years 


THE   HETMAN  PLATOV  105 

the  tired  veteran  enjoyed  unbroken  rest  and  the 
inevitable  reaction  ensued.  The  steel  springs  of 
his  energy  uncoiled,  and  after  a  short  illness  due  to 
a  cold  the  Hetman  Platov  died  peacefully  in  his  bed 
in  the  year  1818. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  COSSACKS  OF  TO-DAY:  ORGANIZATION 
AND  GOVERNMENT 

AT  the  close  of  the  imperial  regime,  the  term 
"Cossack"  was  legally  applied  to  a  distinct 
class  or  caste  within  the  Russian  state,  differen- 
tiated by  well-defined  rights  and  duties  from  the 
ordinary  subjects  of  the  empii'e.  For  military 
reasons  the  Tsar's  government  fostered  the  clan 
spirit  and  esprit  de  corps  which  has  always  char- 
acterized the  "Free  People." 

To  the  North  Russian  peasant  the  Cossack 
troops  were  often  associated  with  measures  of  po- 
lice and  oppression.  Historical  reasons,  as  we  have 
seen,  have  also  played  their  part  in  separating  the 
Cossack  from  the  Moujik  class  —  whose  infinite 
docility  the  former  have  always  regarded  with  con- 
tempt and  aversion.  Yet  the  distrust  existing  be- 
tween them  and  the  "great  gray  mass"  of  the  Rus- 
sian peasantry  did  not  prevent  the  Cossacks  from 
playing  a  notable  role  in  the  events  which  brought 
about  the  constructive  revolution  of  1917. 

The  Cossacks  are  at  present  organized  into 
eleven  "armies,"  each  occupying  its  own  settle- 
ment or  allotted  territory.     Their  stanitzi,  or  set- 

196 


IIBRARY 

UNiVERsiry  or  CAimm 

mERSlDE 


PERSrA 

SKETCH  MAP  OF  THE  PRINCIPAL  COSSACK  TERRITOEIES   OF  THE  PRESENT  DAY. 
DON      Co3sacrk3        WmSM         URAL      Cossacks     ^^B         AUTH OB'S  ROUTE    i^^f,^ ......... 

KUBAN  "  C~m         ORENBURG       ■•  ^^m         NOTE   BM^y.j  lAc  fo^or*  r.,;,,<eu-«j 

TER.'EK  "  r     "^         SEMTEECHENSH      "  WmSM         AMm!!Z 

AST/2AKA/V  "  -.•••••         SIBERIAN  ••  I  I         IJli'SJitl 


ORGANIZATION  AND  GOVERNMENT      197 

tlements,  are  generally  distributed  along  the  fron- 
tiers, old  and  new,  of  what  was  formerly  the  Em- 
pire of  All  the  Russias.  Officially  these  stanitzi 
were  known  as  the  territories  of  the  Cossack  armies 
of  the  Don,  Ural,  Terek,  Kuban,  Orenburg,  As- 
trakhan, Trans-Baikal,  Siberian,  Siemriechinskoe 
(Seven  Rivers),  Amur  and  Ussuri.  {See  Map.) 
Thus  with  every  Cossack  "army"  or  its  subdivision 
was  associated  some  definite  grant  of  land  to  which 
it  was  "territorially"  attached. 

The  Cossacks  of  the  later  "armies,"  formed  for 
the  pm*pose  of  patrolling  and  safeguarding  the 
long  frontiers  of  Russia's  newly  acquired  Asiatic 
provinces,  never  enjoyed  the  same  generous  grants 
of  land  that  were  conferred  upon  the  earlier  sub- 
divisions, such  as  the  Cossacks  of  the  Kouban  and 
Terek. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  present  territories  of  the 
Cossacks  of  the  Don  and  Uralsk  represent  but  a 
small  portion  of  the  huge  "Free  Steppes"  over  which 
their  ancestors  established  their  control.  Indeed, 
the  vague  boundaries  of  these  holdings  were  only 
"confirmed"  when  the  advance  of  non-Cossack 
pioneers  made  such  an  act  necessary.  The  policy 
vigorously  maintained  by  the  imperial  government 
was  that  of  granting  land  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Cossack  outposts  only  in  return  for  military  service. 
The  system  adopted  —  even  during  the  closing 
years  of  the  empire  —  did  not  differ  materially 
from  that  employed  by  the  early  Tsars.    Moreover, 


"/ 


198  THE  COSSACKS 

in  order  to  foster  the  community  spirit,  all  land 
ceded  by  the  Russian  crown  to  the  different  Cos- 
sack "armies"  was  to  be  held  rigorously  in  common. 
This  principle  with  certain  modifications  brought 
about  by  the  passing  of  the  "frontier  conditions" 
(notably  in  the  Don  region)  underlies  the  system 
of  Cossack  land  tenure  to  the  present  day.  Each 
adult  male  Cossack  "soul"  is  entitled  to  the  use 
of  30  dessiatines  (about  75  acres)  of  agricultural 
land.  These  allotments  may  be  re-distributed 
yearly,  and  the  quantity  increased,  if  local  condi- 
tions (such  as  the  quahty  of  the  land)  make  such 
a  step  desirable.  The  areas  set  aside  for  "military 
purposes"  are  used  for  forestry,  and  horsebreeding, 
and  as  a  reserve  for  the  future  needs  of  the  com- 
munity. 

Under  the  former  imperial  regime,  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  Cossack  "annies"  was  placed  di- 
rectly under  the  ministry  of  war,  where  a  special 
"Chancellery"  had  charge  of  all  matters  affecting 
this  class  of  citizens.  A  special  "Committee  of  the 
Cossack  armies"  aided  the  Chancellery  in  its  de- 
cisions, and  all  questions  both  of  civil  and  military 
character  were  decided  by  these  two  organizations. 
While  in  theory  elective,  the  members  of  this  ad- 
visory committee  were  formerly  in  reality  ap- 
pointed by  the  Minister  of  War.  One  of  the  first 
acts  of  the  various  Cossack  congresses  which  rati- 
fied the  change  to  a  republican  form  of  government 
was  to  provide  for  a  popular  and  representative 


ORGANIZATION  AND  GOVERNMENT      199 

membership  of  this  important  body.  The  prin- 
cipal Cossack  armies,  viz.:  Don,  Uralsk,  Terek, 
Kouban,  Orenburg  and  Astrakhan,  have  each  one 
permanent  representative  on  this  committee,  while 
the  smaller  Cossack  communities  of  Western  and 
Eastern  Siberia  have  each  one  delegate. 

The  head  of  each  "army"  preserves  the  ancient 
title  of  ataman,  an  office  usually  miiting  the  mili- 
tary and  civil  duties  of  a  governor-general.  At 
the  head  of  each  stanitza  —  which  usually  com- 
prises from  one  to  four  villages  according  to  the 
size  of  their  population  —  is  placed  a  stanitzi 
ataman,  who  is  responsible  for  the  general  order. 
Out  of  respect  for  Cossack  particularism,  each 
stanitza  in  theory  became  an  administrative  unit 
enjoying  the  fullest  autonomy. 

The  actual  government  in  most  of  these  com- 
munities is  generally  exercised  by  a  council  of 
Cossack  elders,  generally  men  past  military  age, 
whose  patriarchal  decisions  are  respected  by  all. 
This  council  or  shor  is  responsible  to  a  stanitza 
gathering  in  which  all  the  Cossack  heads  of  families 
are  represented.  In  view,  however,  of  the  in- 
creasing population  and  the  unwieldy  proportions 
which  these  gatherings  attained  in  many  of  the 
larger  stanitzi  the  old  principle  of  the  ohshi  kroug, 
i.e.,  the  "Circle  of  All,"  is  generally  limited  to 
communities  not  exceeding  twenty  or  thirty  fam- 
ilies. In  the  larger  communities  a  representative 
system  has  been  adopted  based  on  the  universal 


200  THE  COSSACKS 

suffrage  of  men  over  twenty-five  years  of  age.  De- 
cisions must  be  reached  in  all  important  affairs  by 
the  vote  of  at  least  a  two-thirds  majority. 

In  the  Cossack  stanitzi  non-Cossacks,  or  "persons 
not  of  the  military  class,"  are  permitted  to  live  on 
the  payment  of  certain  dues  to  the  community, 
but  without  the  right  to  vote  or  hold  office.  (Jews 
were  formerly  rigorously  excluded  from  the  enjoy- 
ment of  this  privilege.) 

Cossacks  have  the  same  fondness  for  cattle 
raising  and  other  pastoral  pursuits  noticeable  in  the 
inhabitants  of  nearly  all  new  countries.  Like  the 
true  "cowboy"  of  the  Far  West  —  with  whom  he 
has  much  in  common  —  the  Cossack  will  only  put 
his  hand  to  the  plow  when  driven  to  it  by  the 
sternest  necessity.  Although  in  many  parts  of  the 
Cossack  country  the  soil  of  the  steppes  is  surpass- 
ingly rich,  the  rigours  of  a  continental  climate  are 
felt  with  especial  severity.  In  these  vast  almost 
treeless  plains  droughts,  floods  and  other  climatic 
extremes  are  enemies  of  the  Cossack  husbandmen. 

Under  the  imperial  government  the  breeding  of 
horses  and  cattle  was  especially  encouraged  in  order 
to  furnish  mounts  for  the  cavalry,  and  to  ensure 
the  best  results  the  Ministry  of  Agriculture  pro- 
vided the  Cossack  herders  with  blooded  stock. 
Breeding  farms  are  established  for  the  direction 
and  supervision  of  this  industry  at  convenient 
points. 

Besides  horses  a  great  part  of  the  wealth  of  the 


ORGANIZATION    AND    GOVERNMENT     201 

Cossack  nations  consists  in  their  herds  of  cattle, 
sheep,  swine,  and  camels.  Indeed  in  many  parts 
of  the  stanitzi  the  size  of  these  herds  forms  the  chief 
criterion  of  Cossack  wealth  and  position,  much  in 
the  same  way  that  this  standard  is  applied  among 
nomad  races. 

The  old  tradition  that  pictures  the  Cossack 
troops  as  a  levy  of  wild  horsemen,  only  useful  for 
the  purpose  of  partisan  warfare,  in  no  way  rep- 
resents the  actual  state  of  their  military  capabilities. 
Besides  living  from  childhood  in  a  military  atmos- 
phere their  officers  are  drilled  with  especial  severity 
for  their  long  period  of  duty.  Under  the  old  re- 
gime, while  special  military  institutions  existed  for 
Cossack  officers,  they  were  subjected  to  the  same 
educational  requirements  as  the  cadets  graduating 
from  regular  military  schools.  Moreover,  no 
amount  of  training  could  take  the  place  of  the 
marvellous  esprit  de  corps  —  an  almost  instinctive 
"clan"  feeling  —  existing  in  every  Cossack  regi- 
ment. 

The  introduction  of  universal  military  service 
in  1874,  and  the  enactment  of  laws  by  which  every 
male  Russian  was  called  upon  to  take  up  his  share 
in  the  burden  of  state  defence,  removed  many  of 
the  differences  existing  between  the  Cossacks  and 
their  peasant  or  moujik  neighbours.  But  in  spite  of 
the  important  change  thus  realized  the  mihtary  tra- 
ditions of  the  Cossack  race  remained  unchanged 
and  the  imperial  government  continued  to  treat 


202  THE  COSSACKS 

them  as  a  distinct  body  in  the  community.  Each 
Cossack  was  still  required  to  furnish  his  own  horse, 
uniform  and  weapons,  and  the  only  changes  made 
in  the  old  conditions  of  Cossack  service  had  in  view 
placing  the  Cossack  armies  in  a  position  enabling 
them  to  co-operate  with  the  regular  troops  of  the 
Russian  line.* 

Nearly  all  the  Cossack  troops  engaged  in  the 
heroic  struggle  which  the  Russian  army  made  on 
the  side  of  the  Allies  during  the  opening  years  of 
the  World  War,  were  cavalry  formations.  The 
levy  of  the  united  Cossack  armies  just  before  the 
war  constituted  a  minimum  of  144  cavalry  regi- 
ments, 830  sotnia  or  "hundreds"  and  a  quota  of 
light  Cossack  artillery,  accompanying  the  infantry 
divisions.  As  Cossack  cavalry  drill  included  a 
certain  training  in  infantry  tactics,  their  services 
were  useful  even  in  trench  warfare,  but  it  was  as 
scouts  and  raiders  that  the  traditional  Cossack 
qualities  gained  for  these  troops  such  well-deserved 
reputation. 

For  military  purposes  all  male  Cossacks  are  di- 
vided into  two  general  categories,  active  and  re- 

*  WhUe  many  of  the  most  famous  Cossack  regiments 
wear  a  uniform  which  differs  little  from  those  of  the 
Russian  dragoon  regiments,  the  more  characteristic  Cos- 
sack military  dress  is  an  adaptation  of  the  Circassian 
tcherkesJca  —  the  convenient  martial  costume  of  the  un- 
conquerable Mussulman  Tcherkess  tribesmen  who  inhabit 
part  of  the  Caucasus. 


ORGANIZATION    AND    GOVERNMENT     203 

serve.  The  active  category  is  again  divided  into 
three  divisions: 

(1)  Preparatory,  composed  of  Cossacks  and 
cadets  undergoing  military  instruction. 

(2)  Line  Cossacks. 

(3)  Depot  or  reserve  for  the  second  division. 
Cossack  military  service  begins  at  eighteen  years 

and  is  continued  as  follows:  three  years  in  the  pre- 
paratory class ;  twelve  years  in  the  line ;  five  years  in 
the  reserve.  The  "line"  category,  in  view  of  the 
long  service  required,  is  divided  into  three  divisions, 
only  the  first  of  which  serves  constantly  with  the  col- 
ours, while  the  other  two  are  allowed  to  remain  near 
their  homes  subject  to  "the  call  to  arms."  (See 
Russian  Encyclopedia,  article  by  A.  Saroff.) 

With  the  negligible  exception  of  twenty  in- 
fantry "hundreds"  and  a  greatly  reduced  quota 
of  light  Cossack  artillery,  nearly  all  the  Cossack 
troops  serve  as  cavalry,  or  "dismounted  cavalry."* 

In  addition  to  the  regular  Cossack  troops  the 
imperial  armies  included  a  division  of  cavalry, 
armed  and  drilled  according  to  Cossack  methods, 
but  exclusively  recruited  among  the  war-like  tribes 
of  the  Tcherkess,  Abkhazes,  Lesghians,  Daghes- 
tani,  etc.  These  wild  horsemen,  who  compose  the 
celebrated  "Dikki  Division"  or  "Wild  Division," 
enjoy  not  only  a  great  reputation  for  reckless 

*  The  above  figures  are  based  upon  widely  differing 
data  furnished  by  the  usual  "official  sources"  before  the 
revolution.     They  are  given  with  the  greatest  reserve. 


204  THE  COSSACKS 

bravery  but  also  for  the  excesses  which  they  are 
reputed  to  commit  in  enemy  territory.  Few,  if 
any,  of  these  troops  are  Cossacks,  and  only  the  sim- 
ilarity of  dress  and  equipment  causes  them  to  be 
confused  with  the  latter.  On  the  other  hand  a  bit- 
ter rivalry  exists  between  them  and  the  true  Cos- 
sack troops  against  whom  their  ancestors  were  so 
long  engaged  in  frontier  feuds  and  skirmishes. 
(This  is  the  division  which  General  Kornilov  was 
reported  to  be  leading  in  his  much  misunderstood 
movement  against  the  former  Provisional  Govern- 
ment. ) 

The  Cossack  divisions  preserved  their  discipline 
to  the  last  during  the  terrible  moments  when  Bol- 
shevik propaganda  was  successfully  sowing  dis- 
order in  the  Russian  lines.  As  noted  elsewhere, 
the  Cossack  regiments  everywhere  gave  their  sup- 
port to  the  changes  brought  about  by  the  construc- 
tive revolution  of  March  1917  (conducted  along 
lines  so  acceptable  to  the  traditions  of  the  "Free 
People") .  By  keeping  intact  military  organization 
most  of  the  Cossack  regiments  were  able  then  to 
reach  their  own  territory  during  the  horrors  of  the 
Bolshevik  demobilization.  They  thus  escaped  the 
lot  of  so  many  wretched  peasant  soldiers  of  the  old 
regime,  who  found  it  necessary  to  enlist  in  the 
ragged  regiments  of  the  Red  Guards  in  order  to 
keep  body  and  soul  together.  When  the  Bolshevik 
directorate,  which  had  replaced  the  officialdom  of 
the  old  regime  at  Petrograd,  sought  to  obtain  Cos- 


ORGANIZATION    AND    GOVERNMENT    205 

sack  support,  they  found  the  Cossack  territories 
organized,  not  only  to  conduct  their  own  affairs, 
but  also  to  resist  dictation  from  without. 

It  is  perhaps  premature  to  consider  here  the 
problem  of  the  place  which  the  Cossacks  will  oc- 
cupy in  relation  to  the  rest  of  *'What  was  Russia.'* 
When  the  ominous  symbol  of  the  red  flag  every- 
where replaced  the  national  standard  throughout 
Northern  Russia  —  through  the  teachings  of  ma- 
terialistic Socialist  doctrines  —  "class  conscious- 
ness" took  the  place  of  patriotic  ideals.  The  blue 
and  yellow  flag  of  the  old  Cossack  Ukraine  imme- 
diately appeared  in  the  south,  an  unmistakable 
answer  to  these  denationalizing  influences.  The 
ideal  maintained  in  all  the  Cossack  territories  is 
that  of  a  Russian  federal  republic,  wherein  a  large 
measure  of  autonomy  will  be  allowed  the  widely  dif- 
fering peoples  and  districts  who  were  "gathered 
together"  by  the  long  imperialistic  process  of  the 
old  regime.  The  opposition  of  the  Bolsheviki  at 
Petrograd  to  this  logical  desire  for  decentralization, 
and  the  eagerness  with  which  Lenine  and  his  asso- 
ciates seized  upon  the  machinery  and  methods  of 
Tsardom  for  their  own  form  of  "government," 
will  probably  for  some  time  form  an  obstacle  to 
any  close  union  between  north  and  south.  Here 
again,  however,  geographical  factors,  notably  the 
absence  of  any  natural  frontiers  separating  the 
older  provinces  of  "Muscovy"  from  "New  Russia," 
will  be  a  force  making  for  future  reunion. 


206  THE  COSSACKS 

At  a  time  when  Russia  is  distracted  by  the  at- 
tempts of  doctrinaires  to  solve  the  vast  problems  of 
land  tenure  left  by  the  collapse  of  the  imperial  re- 
gime, it  is  interesting  to  consider  the  present  situ- 
ation of  the  Cossack  land  holder.  The  stanitzi  rep- 
resent a  system  of  communal  ownership  developed 
by  practical  experience  and  adjustment  through  a 
long  period  of  time,  and  thoroughly  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  the  Cossack  community.  Unlike  the 
grinding  tyranny  of  the  mir  —  the  primitive 
communal  system  under  which  the  Russian 
peasants  of  the  north  sought  to  administer  their 
own  affairs  —  the  Cossack  system  has  been  able  to 
give  wide  latitude  to  individual  effort,  and  even  to 
adapt  itself  to  the  passing  of  frontier  conditions  by 
frankly  admitting  the  right  to  private  ownership. 
Thus  land  (such  as  orchard  and  homestead  land) 
where  permanent  improvements  have  been  made 
tlirough  the  owner's  own  outlay  of  work  or  capital 
becomes,  with  certain  restrictions,  private  prop- 
erty. It  is,  therefore,  easy  to  understand  why 
Bolshevik  propaganda  has  met  with  so  little  suc- 
cess, not  only  among  the  peasant  proprietors  of 
the  Ukraine,  where  Cossack  civilization  ceased  to 
exist  many  years  ago,  but  also  in  the  newer  Cos- 
sack territories,  of  the  "armies"  established  during 
the  last  century  along  the  eastern  frontiers  of  New 
Russia.  In  spite  of  the  infiltration  of  landless 
peasants  from  the  North  among  the  Cossack  set- 
tlements, the  doctrines  of  Marxian  Socialism  have 


ORGANIZATION    AND    GOVERNMENT    207 

generally  met  with  a  hostile  reception  throughout 
the  Cossack  territories. 

The  situation  was  well  set  forth  in  the  homely- 
language  of  a  delegate  of  the  Uralsk  Cossacks  to 
the  Cossack  congress  in  Petrograd:  "The  Cos- 
sacks—  or  'Free  People'  —  of  Russia  have  not 
maintained  their  liberty  and  manhood  during  these 
centuries  of  crusliing  autocratic  tyranny  without 
learning  how  to  preserve  their  own  liberties  in  their 
own  fashion.  The  spectacle  afforded  us  by  the 
prophets  of  a  Socialistic  cult  imported  from  Ger- 
many and  preached  by  an  alien  race  is  enough  to 
disgust  any  lover  of  freedom,  to  whatever  nation 
he  may  belong.  It  seems  to  be  forgotten  in  cer- 
tain parts  of  Russia  that  in  the  organization  and 
administration  of  our  kasaJc  lands  we  have  our- 
selves developed  what  may  be  called  the  only  prac- 
tical system  of  community  life  to  be  found  in  ac- 
tual operation  anj'where  on  the  world's  surface. 

"We,  therefore,  demand,  and  feel  ourselves 
more  than  ever  prepared  to  insist  upon,  the  main- 
tenance under  a  democratic  order  of  the  privilege 
to  manage  our  own  affairs  —  a  privilege  which 
could  not  be  withheld  from  us  under  a  tyrannical 
autocracy.  This  can  only  be  secured,  we  feel  cer- 
tain, through  a  regime  of  complete  local  autonomy 
embracing  all  the  widely  differing  provinces  of  the 
old  empire.  The  geographical  character  of  the 
Russian  empire  clearly  indicates  what  form  of  gov- 
ernment should  there  exist.  This  should  be  similar 


208  THE  COSSACKS 

to  that  prevailing  in  the  United  States:  a  federal 
republic,  wherein  the  Cossack  territories,  our  old 
neighbours  of  the  Ukraine  and  the  regions  of  North 
Russia,  will  all  find  their  place,  and  freedom  to 
live  their  own  lives  according  to  their  own  tradi- 
tions and  aspirations." 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  COSSACKS  OF  TO-DAY:  THE  DON 

ONE  might  seek  in  vain  to-day  in  many  parts 
of  the  old  Cossack  Ukraine  for  traces  of  its 
former  masters.  Although  a  modern  statue  of 
Bogdan  Hmelnicky  stands  in  the  public  square  of 
Kiev,  the  Cossack  element  of  the  old  border  cap- 
ital may  be  said  to  have  almost  disappeared.  Yet 
throughout  all  the  vast  territory  of  South  Russia, 
the  traditions  of  the  days  of  Cossack  ascendency 
are  still  a  precious  heritage.  The  descendants  of 
the  Freemen  inscribed  on  the  old  military  registers, 
and  the  "little  proprietor"  or  obnodvortzi  of 
Kharkov  and  Poltava,  feels  himself  the  equal  of 
the  former  great  landlords  of  Northern  Russia. 
Even  the  none  too  reputable  memories  of  the 
"heroes"  of  the  later  sitch  —  the  license  and  dis- 
orderly existence  of  the  Zaporogian  Brotherhood 
—  are  proudly  recalled  on  account  of  the  de- 
votion to  the  principles  of  personal  liberty  which 
kept  alive  the  spark  of  free  manhood  in  the  face 
of  a  Russia  sunk  in  serfdom. 

Although  the  plains  of  the  Ukraine  about  Kiev 
and  Kharkov  have  long  since  been  abandoned  by 
the  "Free  People"  —  and  the  wild  riders  of  the 

209 


210  THE  COSSACKS 

steppes  have  disappeared  in  a  cloud  of  dust  and 
a  scamper  of  hoofs  towards  the  more  congenial 
frontiers  of  Asiatic  Russia  —  their  spirit  remains 
alive  in  the  individualistic  and  independent  peas- 
ant landholders  of  Little  Russia. 

Any  description  of  the  "old  Cossack"  country  of 
South  Russia,  notably  the  provinces  of  the  Don, 
must  first  take  into  account  the  geographical  in- 
fluences of  the  great  steppes  upon  the  development 
of  this  typical  civilization. 

The  great  prairies  of  wild  grass  have  given  way 
to  far-stretching  wheat  fields,  and  the  Cossack 
sianitzi  have  been  replaced  by  the  villages  of  South 
Russian  peasants.  Nevertheless  conditions  pe- 
culiar to  the  Black  Sea  littoral  still  give  a  charac- 
teristic note  to  the  scenery.  Travellers  of  every 
race  and  countrj^  have  exhausted  their  vocabulary 
in  trying  to  convey  some  idea  of  the  effect  made 
upon  the  observer  by  the  ceaseless  uniformity  of 
this  landscape.  The  reader  will,  therefore,  be 
spared  a  repetition  of  these  descriptions  and  asked 
instead  to  consider  the  more  cheerful  side  of  the 
subject  —  the  enormous  agricultural  possibilities 
and  the  stores  of  natural  wealth  which  in  many 
places  underlie  these  plains. 

For  in  spite  of  their  monotony  when  viewed 
from  the  standpoint  of  scenery  the  steppes  of  Little 
Russia  are  perhaps  the  richest  agricultural  region 
in  the  world.  Their  fertility  is  due  to  the  famous 
tsherno  :^emU  or  "black  earth"  which  covers  the  un- 


THE  DON  211 

derljing  strata  for  more  than  a  yard  in  thickness 
—  a  deposit  which  except  for  certain  sandy 
stretches,  extends  over  nearly  the  entire  southern 
portion  of  Russia  from  the  Dnieper  to  the  Caspian. 
In  many  places  the  name  popularly  given  this  rich 
soil  is  no  exaggeration,  for  when  newly  turned  by 
the  plow  it  is  almost  as  black  as  coal.  The  compo- 
sition of  this  natural  garden  soil  is  due  to  a  century- 
long  process.  Layers  of  decaying  vegetation  are 
deposited  by  the  natural  crop  of  grasses  with 
which  these  plains  are  covered  every  season  when 
left  uncultivated.  The  Russian  peasant  firmly  be- 
lieves that  even  without  manure  or  artificial  fer- 
tilizer the  richness  of  this  land  is  inexhaustible.  In 
many  parts  scientific  investigation  seems  to  bear 
out  his  contention  that  manures  are  not  only  su- 
perfluous, but  detrimental.  By  plowing  to  a  depth 
of  only  six  inches  the  black  earth  is  capable  of 
giving  phenomenal  crops  for  five  or  six  years  in 
succession  after  which  if  allowed  to  lie  fallow  dur- 
ing a  few  seasons  all  its  fertility  appears  to  return. 
It  is  this  natural  richness  of  soil  which  has 
brought  about  the  dangerously  improvident  forms 
of  agriculture  to  which  the  Cossack  farmer  is 
wedded.  Indeed,  his  inability  to  compete  with  more 
skillful  farmers  from  less  fertile  localities  lies  at  the 
bottom  of  his  slow  expropriation  by  the  latter  when- 
ever they  meet  in  open  competition.  If  fertility 
were  the  only  question  to  be  considered  in  the  black 
earth  region,  the  plains  of  South  Russia  would  be 


212  THE  COSSACKS 

an  agricultural  paradise  and  the  Cossacks  and 
peasants  inhabiting  them  the  happiest  of  men.  Un- 
fortunately, however,  these  vast  plains  are  the 
scene  of  such  sudden  and  violent  changes  of  weather 
that  no  human  ingenuitj^^  may  forestall  their  effect. 
So  powerful  are  the  rays  of  the  southern  sun  that 
disastrous  droughts  frequently  result  from  a  sea- 
sonable rainfall  deferred  but  for  a  few  days. 
Again,  under  normal  winter  conditions  these  plains 
are  covered  by  snow  for  five  months  of  the  year, 
forming  a  necessary  protection  against  the  biting 
frost  which  otherwise  destroys  the  autumn  sowing. 
But  in  many  parts  of  the  "black  earth"  region 
(notably  towards  the  east)  the  violent  winds  of 
winter  blow  unchecked  by  hill  or  forest,  carrying 
away  the  snowy  covering,  thereby  allowing  the  soil 
to  freeze  sometimes  to  a  depth  of  a  yard  or  more. 
In  such  cases  the  whole  process  of  sowing  must  be 
begun  over  again  in  the  spring.  The  preference  of 
the  Cossack  "old-timer"  for  cattle  raising  and 
breeding,  even  on  such  fertile  pasturage,  is  there- 
fore readily  to  be  understood. 

In  the  face  of  great  natural  forces  wholly  be- 
yond his  control,  fatalism  and  faith  in  the  omnipo- 
tence of  a  higher  power  are  outstanding  charac- 
teristics of  the  Cossack  farmer.  These  qualities 
carried  beyond  a  certain  point  are,  however,  curi- 
ously liable  to  resemble  indolence  and  improvi- 
dence. Moreover,  these  faults  are  especially  dan- 
gerous when  they  do  not  carry  with  them  the  in- 


THE  DON  213 

evitable  punishment  meted  out  to  men  of  northern 
climes.  The  recent  development  of  the  coal  and 
iron  fields  underlying  the  agricultural  riches  of 
South  Russia  have  done  much  to  change  the  char- 
acter of  the  country  and  its  inhabitants. 

The  journey  from  Kiev  to  Kharkov  lies  through 
a  classic  land  of  old  Cossack  history  and  romance. 
Yet  there  is  little  to  remind  one  of  this  vanished 
civilization  until  the  shores  of  the  Don  are  reached. 
The  contrast  between  Kiev  —  its  pious  silhouette 
of  domes  and  convent  towers  rising  from  the  plains 
of  the  Dnieper  —  and  Kharkov,  the  commercial 
and  industrial  center  of  South  Russia,  is  wholly 
significant  of  the  changes  which  have  overtaken  all 
the  western  Cossack  steppes.  Once  a  mere  Cos- 
sack settlement,  Kharkov  lies  at  the  apex  of  the 
triangle  formed  by  the  gi'eat  industrial  region  of 
South  Russia,  the  Krivoi-Rog.  Thus,  the  iron 
fields  to  the  north  of  the  Dnieper  and  the  relatively 
new  industrial  enterprises  of  the  Donetz  coal  basin 
are  at  its  doors.  Here  center  the  three  essential 
elements  of  a  modern  commercial  and  industrial 
El  Dorado,  i.e.,  coal,  iron  and  population. 

The  country  in  which  these  rich  deposits  are 
found,  instead  of  presenting  the  barren  and  unat- 
tractive landscape  so  often  associated  with  mining 
districts,  is  covered  with  v/heat-fields  and  pasture 
lands.  Here  it  is  no  uncommon  spectacle  to  see 
great  factories  and  work  shops  trailing  their  plumes 
of  black  bituminous  smoke  across  acres  of  ripening 


214  THE  COSSACKS 

grain  —  cultivation  of  which  ends  only  at  the  foot 
of  their  dingy  walls. 

No  wonder  that  an  unconquerable  optimism  — 
the  true  American  "western  spirit"  —  pervades  the 
population  of  these  favoured  lands.  In  the  clear 
air  and  flooding  sunlight'  of  the  old  steppes  the 
northern  Russian  peasant  nature  expands  with  re- 
newed activity.  The  strong  force  of  "passive  re- 
sistance," so  characteristic  of  the  fatalistic  North- 
Slav  civilization,  is  transformed  into  a  source  of 
boundless  physical  energy.  Even  the  great  work- 
shops and  foundries  set  down  among  the  smiling 
landscape  of  fields  and  orchards  lose  much  of  the 
grim  enslaving  aspect  which  characterize  the  roar- 
ing mills  of  the  commercial  quarters  of  Petrograd 
and  Moscow.  In  the  promised  land  of  the  old  Cos- 
sack "Republic  of  the  Don"  a  new  commercial  pro- 
letariat is  arising  —  a  new  race  of  workers  who 
seem  to  have  absorbed  some  of  the  sturdy  tradi- 
tions of  freedom  of  the  early  inhabitants. 

Kharkov  is  a  city  of  about  200,000  inhabitants. 
The  ancient  architectural  features  of  the  old 
Ukranian  capital  have  all  but  disappeared.  German 
influence  is  evident  on  every  hand.  A  hideous 
Lutheran  Church  of  raw  red  brick  raises  its  towers 
next  to  the  bulbous  cupolas  of  the  Russian  cathe- 
dral, while  long  streets  are  lined  with  houses  and 
shops  in  the  "modem  style"  of  Munich  and 
Carlsruhe.  Indeed,  the  threat  of  German  com- 
mercial domination  was  the  direct  cause  of  the  early 


'ITHE    DON  215 

revolutionary  movements  which  broke  out  in  Khar- 
kov in  1917.  Another  reason  for  this  hostile  at- 
titude to  the  German  influence  at  Petrograd  lay  in 
the  fact  that  Kharkov  had  a  large  population  of 
Poles  from  German  Poland,  who  had  settled  here 
in  the  freer  conmiercial  atmosphere  of  Russia. 

A  few  hours  ride  beyond  Kharkov  brings  the 
traveller  to  the  first  stanitzi  of  the  Don  Cossacks. 
The  first  view  of  these  villages  shows  them  to  be- 
long to  a  different  civilization.  Comparison  with 
the  settlements  of  the  moujik  workmen  who  have 
invaded  their  territoiy  since  the  opening  of  the 
great  modern  factories  of  the  Donetz  makes  tliis 
contrast  the  more  remarkable.  For  the  moujik, 
even  in  new  surroundings,  long  remains  true  to 
type. 

Even  where  there  is  little  to  prevent  their  villages 
from  spreading  at  their  ease  across  the  steppes, 
atavism,  or  love  of  each  other's  company,  keeps 
them  crowded  about  the  great  red-brick  factory 
buildings,  in  iJiuch  the  same  way  that  their  an- 
cestors huddled  about  the  fortresses  of  their  over- 
lords in  the  Tartar-raided  pinewoods  of  the  north. 

The  villages  inhabited  by  the  true  natives  of  the 
soil  present  a  far  different  appearance.  The  first 
view  of  the  Cossack  stanitza  shows  that  their  inhabi- 
tants take  interest  not  only  in  the  outer  appearances, 
but  also  concerning  questions  of  cleanliness  and 
sanitation.  Another  significant  fact:  schoolhouses 
begin  to  appear  beside  the  churches.     Each  neat 


216  THE  COSSACKS 

fenced  garden  is  of  precisely  the  dimensions  pre- 
scribed by  its  owner's  military  rank  in  the  Cossack 
polk.  Even  the  favourite  sunflowers  of  Little  Rus- 
sia, which  stand  sentinel  about  every  modest  door- 
way, seem  to  have  been  manoeuvred  into  place  at 
the  drillmaster's  command. 

Orchards  whose  boughs  are  nearly  breaking  with 
their  weight  of  fruit,  and  an  occasional  vineyard 
producing  the  heady  Cossack  wine,  show  the  suita- 
bility of  this  rich  steppe  land  for  any  kind  of  agri- 
culture. There  is,  however,  another  side  to  the 
picture.  Often  for  miles  at  a  stretch,  the  land  lies 
fallow  or  is  left  in  luxurious  pasture  for  herds  of 
cattle,  sheep  and  sturdy  little  Cossack  horses, 
among  whom  occasionally  appears  the  gaunt  apoc- 
alyptic silhouette  of  a  camel  mother  and  her 
ungainly  offspring.  Now  and  again  the  sight  of  a 
wheat-field  stretching  in  its  broad  shimmering  ex- 
panse to  a  misty  horizon  gives  an  insight  into  the 
true  agricultural  possibilities  of  the  Don  country, 
but  this  latter  method  of  farming  "wholesale,"  re- 
minding one  of  America  or  the  Canadian  provinces 
of  the  West,  is  in  no  way  indigenous  to  the  soil. 
Even  the  implements  used  in  this  form  of  hus- 
bandry are  American,  or  the  cheaper  and  flimsier 
German  imitation  of  American  models.  Cossack 
capital  is  often  interested  in  the  development  of 
these  grain-lands,  yet  even  the  well-to-do  Cossack 
proprietor  still  infinitely  prefers  to  do  his  farming 
by  hand.    The  owner  of  many  such  broad  acres  is 


THE    DON  217 

more  likely  to  be  found  hoeing  the  garden  before 
his  own  door,  or,  better  still,  if  his  wealth  permits, 
he  likes  to  ride  about  among  his  patriarchal  flocks 
and  herds.  The  exploitation  of  his  steppe  heritage 
he  leaves  to  the  more  mechanically  minded  farmer 
of  an  alien  race.  Thus  the  richest  profits  of  the 
"black  earth"  belt  are  garnered  by  North  Russian 
moujiks,  or  even  Tartars  or  Armenians,  rather 
than  by  the  native  Donskoi. 

An  adjustment  of  relations  between  the  Cossack 
proprietors  and  the  non-Cossack  emigrants  now 
tilling  the  vast  tracts  of  fertile  territory  owned  in 
common  by  the  "armies"  is  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant problems  that  the  future  has  in  store.  Whether 
the  land-hungry  peasants,  who  are  the  lessees  of  so 
much  of  the  best  Cossack  agricultural  land,  will, 
with  the  spread  of  modern  ideas,  consent  to  remain 
in  the  relation  of  tenants  towards  the  community 
appears  highly  doubtful. 

In  the  past  the  rich  "black  earth"  region  of 
the  Don  and  the  great  coalfields  which  underlie  the 
old  "free  steppes"  of  the  Donetz  were  a  greater 
menace  to  Cossack  institutions  than  all  the  at- 
tempts of  the  Russian  Tsars  to  curtail  their  lib- 
erties. The  general  distaste  for  trade  and  industry 
characterizing  the  Cossack  of  the  classical  days  is 
shared  by  his  descendants.  Nearly  all  mercantile 
enterprises  in  the  larger  towns  are  in  the  hands  of 
"strangers."  Already  a  foreign  merchant  class  is 
growing  up  among  the  stanitd  under  the  present 


218  THE  COSSACKS 

policy  of  toleration.  Armenians  and  Jews  are 
obtaining  control  of  nearly  all  the  retail  business  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Rostov,  and  even  in  the  last 
stronghold  of  Cossack  conservatism  —  Novotcher- 
kask.  Yet,  in  spite  of  these  signs  of  the  changing 
times  the  Cossack  still  remains  to  a  surprising  de- 
gree the  master  in  his  own  house. 

The  old  Cossack  communal  system,  while  fre- 
quently modified  by  alien  changes,  has,  in  point  of 
fact,  prospered  exceedingly  through  this  peaceful 
invasion.  A  definite  share  in  the  increment  earned 
falls  to  nearly  everj?-  member  of  the  stanitza. 
Thanks  to  the  conservative  workings  of  Russian 
law  the  proprietor  is  as  hard  to  expropriate  as  the 
traditional  limpet.  This  many  a  promoter  of  mod- 
ern, if  dubious,  prosperity  discovered  to  his  cost. 
With  respect  to  every  new  project  proposed  the 
Cossack  officials  and  elders  must  have  their  say, 
and  a  spirit  of  healthy  conservatism  prevails  in 
their  coimcils. 

Even  the  first  glimpse  of  Xovotcherkask,  the 
Cossack  capital,  will  show  that  here,  at  least,  the 
old  ways  are  still  followed.  The  streets,  though 
wide  and  tree-bordered,  are  often  so  steep  that  only 
a  horseman  may  safely  negotiate  the  grade.  On 
the  crest  of  the  highest  hill  rises  the  cathedral,  a 
warlike  little  shrine  set  about  with  cannon  and  other 
trophies  captured  from  the  Turks  and  English  dur- 
ing the  Crimean  war.  In  a  narrow  space  of  flat 
ground  in  front  of  the  sbor  stands  a  fine  statue  of 


THE   DON  219 

the  famous  hetman  Yermak,  the  embodiment  of 
Cossack  genius,  who  first  conquered  Siberia  for  the 
Russian  empire  in  the  days  of  Ivan  the  Terrible. 
All  about  the  Cathedral  are  built  the  great  barracks 
and  other  military  dependencies,  while  even  the 
private  houses  clearly  indicate  the  military  rank 
rather  than  the  wealth  of  their  owners. 

The  little  museum,  which  stands  near  by,  is  a 
veritable  Acropolis  for  the  whole  Donskoi  race  and 
the  treasures  it  contains  are  proudly  exhibited  to 
the  rare  visitor:  crudely  carved  Scythian  idols 
are  reminders  of  the  primitive  Lords  of  the  Steppes, 
beautifully  chiselled  Greek  coffins  tell  of  the  early 
commercial  colonies  established  on  the  Black 
Sea  littoral ;  marble  slabs  bearing  long  inscriptions 
in  Latin  record  a  succeeding  influence  —  that  of 
the  Genoese  merchant-lords  who  formerly  occupied 
strategic  points  on  the  great  "Highway  of  the  Na- 
tions." 

Next  to  these  remains,  showing  the  commercial 
importance  of  the  Don  basin  in  ancient  times,  are 
piously  preserved  the  regalia,  half-Tartar,  half- 
Christian,  of  the  old  Cossack  chieftains  and  aia- 
mans  of  the  Don:  horsetail  standards,  copied  from 
those  carried  before  the  Asiatic  khans  when  they 
went  to  war;  the  heavy  silver-gilt  houndchouks,  or 
war-clubs,  formerly  the  insignia  of  office,  carried 
by  the  hetman;  icons  and  Cossack  standards  em- 
broidered with  the  pictures  of  wonder-working 
saints  and  martyrs  of  the  Ukraine,  who  accom- 


220  THE  COSSACKS 

panied  the  wild  chivalry  of  the  Don  in  their  wars 
against  the  Tartars.* 

There  is  also  preserved  in  the  museum  a  me- 
mento of  Empress  Catherine's  famous  journey- 
through  the  newly  conquered  provinces  of  Southern 
Russia.  It  was  from  the  window  of  a  travelling 
vehicle  (which  she  presented  to  the  Donskoi)  that 
she  gazed  upon  the  carnivalesque  villages  which  the 
zeal  of  her  favourite  Potemkin  caused  to  be  erected 
all  along  the  route  followed  by  the  imperial  cortege 
in  its  journey  across  the  empty  Cossack  steppes. 
The  boisterous  welcome  of  the  Cossack  stanitzi  of 
the  Don  —  a  contrast  to  the  theatrical  rejoicings  of 
the  fictitious  peasants  and  bayaderes  of  Potemkin's 
improvised  population  —  seems  to  have  pleased  the 
august  sovereign,  who  showed  them  the  most  gra- 
cious side  of  her  character.  The  Donskoi,  in  turn, 
elected  her  an  "honorary  Cossack"  and  still  cherish 
the  memory  of  "Mother  Catherine's"  visit  to  their 
capital. 

In  the  library  of  the  museum  are  carefully  pre- 
served the  charters  and  other  documents  attesting 
the  privileges  conferred  upon  the  Donskoi  race  by 

*  Another  interesting  relic  is  a  finely  jewelled  sword 
presented  by  the  "Merchants  of  the  City  of  London" 
(in  recognition  of  the  services  the  Cossacks  rendered  to 
the  cause  of  the  Grand  Alliance  of  a  century  ago  against 
the  imperialistic  "•welt-politik"  of  Napoleon)  to  the  fa- 
mous hetman  Platov,  a  native  of  old  Tcherkask,  and  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  present  city. 


KOUBAN  COSSACKS 

And  "Cossacks"  of  the  "Wild  Division' 


THE   DON  221 

succeeding  Tsars,  each  confirming  the  "rights" 
which  the  valour  of  the  Cossack  armies  obtained  at 
the  hands  of  the  Russian  autocrats. 

Novotcherkask  is  the  centre  of  the  Cossack  edu- 
cational system.  It  boasts  of  a  large  institution,  the 
"Academy,"  whose  faculty  was  famous  all  over 
Russia  for  the  sturdy  independence  of  its  teachings. 
The  Cossack  school  system  was  liberally  endowed 
and  illiteracy  is  lower  in  the  Don  stanitzi  than  in 
any  province  of  the  old  empire. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  FRONTIERS  OF  EUROPE 

LESS  than  a  century  ago  no  traveller  would 
have  dreamed  of  crossing  the  river  Don  with- 
out a  strong  escort  of  Russian  troops  —  unless 
journeying  as  the  guest  of  some  Cossack  chieftain 
or  hetman  of  the  "Cossacks  of  the  Black  Sea."  Con- 
cerning this  wild  country  the  Englishman  Clarke 
wrote  in  his  celebrated  "Travels  in  the  Ukraine"  as 
follows:  "Here  one  finds  the  Cossack  race  still 
living  according  to  the  manners  and  customs  of 
their  ancestors.  A  savage  pride  in  their  complete 
independence  is  reflected  in  their  dress  and  manner 
of  existence.  Each  Cossack  is  the  equal  of  every 
other  member  of  the  community,  whether  clad  in 
simple  sheep-skins  and  dwelling  in  a  cave,  or  in- 
habiting a  fine  well-built  house  and  dressed  in 
velvet  covered  with  gold  and  silver  lace."  And 
until  the  coming  of  the  great  trunk  line  connecting 
the  "Petroleum-MetropoHs"  of  Bakou  on  the  Cas- 
pian Sea  with  Rostov-on-Don,*  these  primitive 
frontier  conditions  were  to  be  found  existing  over 
all  the  fertile  steppes  to  the  north  of  the  Caucasus. 

*  Rostov-on-Don  is  a  busy  young  commercial  city  — 
the  port  and  distributing  centre  for  the  Don  region.    It 

«22 


THE  FRONTIERS  OF  EUROPE  223 

These  low-lying  plains  —  the  watershed  of  the 
Kuban  and  Terek  —  were  formerly  the  bed  of  a 
great  sea  or  strait  connecting  the  Caspian  with  the 
Black  Sea.  Overlying  a  sandy  substratum  filled 
with  the  debris  of  shells  and  marine  life  is  spread  a 
generous  layer  of  the  famous  agricultural  soil 
known  as  "the  black  earth,"  the  foundation  of  the 
agricultural  empire  of  South  Russia.  The  bur- 
ial mounds  of  forgotten  races,  huge  Kourgans^ 
sometimes  still  surmounted  by  rudely  carved 
guardian  deities  of  stone,  alone  break  the  flat  hor- 
izon. These  are  relics  of  the  Scythian  tribes  who 
formerly  pastured  their  flocks  on  the  rich  grass  that 
covered  these  plains.  Their  numbers  show  that  a 
numerous  population,  even  in  pre-historic  times,  oc- 
cupied this  favored  territory. 

About  the  growing  modem  city  of  Ekaterinodar, 
or  "Catherine's  gift"  —  another  reminder  of  the 
famous  visit  which  that  great  Russian  ruler  made 
to  her  Cossack  territories  in  South  Russia  —  lies 
the  province  where  the  famous  Zaporogian  Cos- 
sacks were  formerly  granted  lands  in  order  to  pro- 
tect the  new  frontiers  from  the  inroads  of  the 
Tcherkess  (Circassians)  and  other  wild  mountain 
tribes  of  the  Caucasus.  No  encouragement  was 
given  these  emigrants  from  the  shores  of  the  Dnie- 
per to  resume  the  peculiar  organization  of  their 

has,  however,  lost  all  Cossack  character,  and  its  popu- 
lation is  principally  made  up  of  Armenians,  Jews,  Great- 
Russians  and  other  "strangers." 


224  THE  COSSACKS 

sitch,  the  armed  camp  or  stronghold  whence  they 
formerly  set  at  defiance  not  only  the  authority  of 
the  Turks  and  Tartars,  but  also  (when  it  so  pleased 
their  humour)  the  commands  of  the  Russian  Tsars 
as  well.  At  the  present  day  the  descendants  of  the 
"Free  Companions"  differ  little  from  other  Cossack 
communities  of  the  Russian  frontier.  The  enter- 
prise and  energy  which  characterized  their  forbears 
is  now  exercised  along  wholly  peaceful  lines. 
Foreign  agricultural  machines  are  sold  in  all  the 
principal  shops  of  Ekaterinodar.  The  spectacle 
afforded  by  a  bewhiskered  Cossack  armed  with  the 
inevitable  dagger,  peacefully  bestriding  an  Ameri- 
can mowing  machine  —  is  wholly  typical  of  the 
"new  days."  Bee  culture,  a  traditional  occupation 
of  the  steppes,  where  the  wildflowers  give  honey  of 
especially  agreeable  flavour,  is  another  vocation  car- 
ried on  with  success  by  these  descendants  of  the 
redoubtable  pirates  of  the  Lower  Dnieper.  In  the 
sandier  parts  of  the  plains  cattle  and  sheep  raising 
(pastoral  pursuits  in  which  the  Cossack  population 
excel)  are  the  principal  source  of  the  wealth  of 
these  fortunate  "Cossacks  of  the  Kuban." 


Along  the  foothills  of  the  great  Caucasian  walls, 
where  the  Terek  flows  through  flat,  sandy  plains  to 
the  Caspian  Sea,  lies  the  territory  of  the  "Cossack 
Army  of  the  Terek."  To  the  north  lies  a  salt 
desert  inhabited  only  by  nomad  Buddhist  Kal- 


THE  FRONTIERS  OF  EUROPE  225 

moucks  —  so  isolated  by  their  inhospitable  sur- 
roundings that  they  are  able  to  continue  the  primi- 
tive existence  of  their  forefathers  within  a  few  hun- 
dred versts  —  as  the  crow  flies  —  of  Russian  civili- 
zation. These  are  generally  peaceably  disposed,  but 
in  the  mountains  to  the  south  of  the  Terek  in  the 
highland  fastness  of  Kabardia  and  Daghestan 
dwell  Mussulman  tribes  whose  independent  spirit 
is  a  c':>ntinual  source  of  petty  disorder.  Here,  in  a 
veriti  lie  natural  fortress,  the  Caucasian  hero 
Schamyl  and  his  followers  made  their  last  heroic 
stand  against  the  Russian  forces  but  half  a  century 
ago. 

In  the  isolated  valleys,  unvisited  except  by  that 
unwelcome  fellow  brigand,  the  Russian  tax-gath- 
erer, Schamyl's  descendants  have  maintained  their 
tribal  customs  to  the  present  day.  On  these  the  Cos- 
sack stanitzi  still  keep  careful  watch,  for  now  and 
again  some  local  Robin  Hood  ventures  to  exercise 
the  old  tribal  right  to  exact  an  involuntary  toll  on 
the  Russian  post  roads.* 

In  Tolstoi's  splendid  story,  "The  Cossack,"  is 
found  the  following  description  from  the  Russian 
view-point  of  the  old  Grebenski  stanitzi,  of  whom 
the  present-day  Cossacks  of  the  Kuban  and  Terek 
are  the  successors : 

*  But  a  few  months  before  the  writer's  last  visit 
to  Vladikavkas,  a  noted  outlaw  had  been  hunted  down 
by  the  Terek  Cossacks.  I  talked  with  several  people  who 
had  seen  this  popular  hero's  body  brought  into  the  city, 


226  THE  COSSACKS 

"The  whole  line  of  the  Terek  along  which,  for 
some  eighty  versts,  are  scattered  the  stanitzi,  or 
villages  of  the  Grehensky  Cossacks,  has  a  dis- 
tinctive character,  by  reason  not  only  of  its  situa- 
tion, but  also  of  population.  The  river  Terek,  which 
separates  the  Cossacks  from  the  mountaineers, 
flows  turbid  and  swift,  but  still  in  a  broad  and  tran- 
quil current,  constantly  depositing  gray  silt  on  the 
low,  reed-grown  right  bank,  and  undermining  the 
steep  but  not  lofty  left  bank,  with  its  tangled  roots 
of  century-old  oaks,  decaying  plane  trees,  and  un- 
derbrush. On  the  right  bank  lie  auls,  or  native 
villages,  peaceable  but  restless ;  along  the  left  bank, 
half  a  verst  from  the  river,  and  seven  or  eight  versts 
apart,  stretch  the  Cossack  villages.  In  former 
times,  the  majority  of  these  villages  or  outposts 
were  on  the  very  edge  of  the  river;  but  the  Terek 
each  year,  sweeping  farther  away  from  the  moun- 
tains toward  the  north,  has  kept  undermining  them, 
and  now  there  remain  in  sight  only  the  old  ruins, 
gardens,  pear  trees,  poplars,  and  limes,  thickly 
overgrown,  and  twined  about  with  blackberries  and 
wild  grape-vines.  No  one  any  longer  lives  there, 
and  the  only  signs  of  life  are  the  tracks  on  the  sand, 
made  by  deer,  wolves,  hares,  and  pheasants,  which 
haunt  such  places. 

A  road  runs  from  stanitza  to  stanitza,  through 
the  forest,  as  a  cannon-shot  would  fly.  Along  the 
road  are  the  military  stations  or  cordons,  guarded 
by  Cossacks.  Between  the  cordons  are  watch- 
accompanied  by  his  weeping  relations  and  the  tribesmen 
who  refused  to  abandon  their  feudal  chief,  even  in  death. 
These  had  become  voluntary  captives  upon  hearing  the 
news  of  his  untimely  end. 


THE  FRONTIERS  OF  EUROPE  227 

towers  with  sentinels.  Only  a  narrow  strip  of 
fertile  forest  land  —  say  twenty-one  hundred  feet 
wide  —  constitutes  the  Cossacks*  domain.  On  the 
north  begin  the  sandy  dunes  of  the  Nogai,  or  Moz- 
dok  steppe,  stretching  far  away,  and  conmiingling, 
God  knows  where,  with  the  Trukhmensky,  Astra- 
khan, and  Kirgiz-Kaisak  steppes.  On  the  south, 
beyond  the  Terek,  is  the  Great  Chechnya,  the  ridge 
of  the  Kotchkalosof  range,  the  Black  Mountains, 
then  still  another  sierra,  and  finally  the  Snowy 
Mountains,  which  are  visible,  indeed,  but  which 
have  never  yet  been  trodden  by  the  foot  of  man. 
On  the  fertile  strip  of  forest  land,  rich  in  all  kinds 
of  vegetation,  have  lived,  since  immemorial  times, 
a  warlike,  handsome,  and  wealthy  Russian  popula- 
tion, professing  the  "Old  Faith,"  and  called  the 
Grebensky  Kazaki  or  Border  Cossacks. 

Very,  very  long  ago,  their  ancestors,  the  Staro- 
vyerni,  or  "Old  Behevers,"  fled  from  Russia  and 
settled  beyond  the  Terek  amon^  the  Chechens  on 
the  ridge  —  "Greben"  —  or  first  spur  of  the 
wooded  range  of  the  Great  Chechnya.  These  Cos- 
sacks intermarried  with  their  new  neighbours,  the 
Chechens,  and  adopted  the  habits,  mode  of  life,  and 
manners  of  the  mountaineers;  but  they  succeeded 
in  maintaining  even  there  the  Russian  language  and 
the  old  belief  in  their  pristine  purity.  A  tradition, 
still  preserved  among  these  Cossacks,  declares  that 
the  Tsar  Ivan  the  Terrible  came  to  the  Terek,  in- 
vited the  elders  of  the  Cossacks  fmm  the  Ridge  to 
meet  him,  gave  them  the  land  on  that  side  of  the 
river,  charged  them  to  live  in  peace,  and  promised 
not  to  compel  them  either  to  subjection  or  to  a 
change  of  belief. 

From  that  time  to  this  the  Cossack  families  have 


228  THE  COSSACKS 

kept  up  their  relations  with  the  mountaineers,  and 
the  chief  traits  of  their  character  are  love  of  liberty, 
laziness,  brigandage,  and  war.  The  influence  of 
Russia  has  been  exerted  only  in  a  detrimental  way, 
by  forced  conscriptions,  the  removal  of  their  bells, 
and  the  presence  of  troops  quartered  among  them. 
The  Cossack  is  inclined  to  have  less  detestation  for 
the  mountaineer-jz^2^  who  has  killed  his  brother 
than  for  the  soldier  who  is  quartered  on  him  for  the 
sake  of  protecting  his  village,  but  who  scents  up 
his  hut  with  tobacco-smoke.  He  respects  his  moun- 
tain enemy;  but  he  disdains  the  soldier,  whom  he 
regards  as  an  alien  oppressor. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  Cossack  the  Russian  peasant  is 
a  nondescript  creature,  uncouth  and  beneath  con- 
tempt, the  type  of  which  he  finds  in  the  peripatetic 
Little  Russian  peddler  or  emigrant,  called  by  the 
Cossacks  shapoval,  or  tile-wearer. 

The  height  of  style  there  is  to  dress  like  the 
Tcherkess.  His  best  weapons  are  procured  from 
the  mountaineers ;  from  them  also  his  best  horses  are 
bought  or  stolen.  The  young  Cossack  brave  prides 
himself  on  his  knowledge  of  the  Tartar  language, 
and,  when  he  is  on  a  drunken  spree,  he  speaks 
Tartar  even  with  his  brother. 

In  fact  this  petty  population  of  Christians,  bar- 
ricaded in  a  little  corner  of  the  world,  surrounded 
by  semi-civilized  Mohammedan  tribes  and  by  sol- 
diers, regards  itself  as  having  attained  the  highest 
degree  of  culture,  looks  on  the  Cossack  as  alone 
worthy  of  the  name  of  man,  and  affects  to  despise 
every  one  else.  The  Cossack  spends  the  most  of 
his  time  at  the  cordons,  in  expeditions,  hunting  and 
fishing.  He  almost  never  works  at  home.  His 
presence  in  his  stanitza  is  an  exception  to  the  rule, 


THE    FRONTIERS    OF    EUROPE  229 

but  when  he  is  there  he  lounges.  Wine  is  a  common 
commodity  among  all  the  Cossacks,  and  drunken- 
ness is  not  so  much  a  universal  propensity  as  it  is 
a  rite,  the  non-fulfilment  of  which  would  be  re- 
garded as  apostasy. 

The  Cossack  looks  on  a  woman  as  the  instrument 
of  his  well-being.  Only  while  she  is  unmarried  does 
he  allow  her  to  be  idle  and  make  merry;  but  when 
she  is  once  a  wife  he  compels  her  to  work  for  him 
from  youth  to  the  very  end  of  old  age.  He  is  thor- 
oughly Oriental  in  his  demand  on  her  obedience 
and  toil.  As  the  result  of  this  state  of  things, 
woman,  though  to  all  appearances  in  subjection, 
becomes  powerfully  developed  both  physically  and 
morally,  and,  as  is  commonly  the  case  in  the  East, 
possesses  incomparably  more  influence  and  conse- 
quence in  domestic  affairs  than  in  the  West.  Her 
seclusion  from  society  and  her  inurement  to  hard 
manual  labour  give  her  still  more  authority  and  com- 
mand in  domestic  affairs.  The  Cossack  who,  in  the 
presence  of  strangers,  regards  it  as  unbecoming  to 
talk  affectionately  or  gossip  with  his  wife,  cannot 
help  feeling  her  superiority  when  he  is  left  alone 
with  her.  His  whole  house,  his  whole  estate,  his 
whole  establishment  have  been  acquired  by  her,  and 
are  maintained  solely  by  her  labours  and  exertions. 
And  though  he  is  obstinately  convinced  that  toil  is 
degrading  for  a  Cossack,  and  is  the  proper  occupa- 
tion only  of  a  Nogai  labourer  or  a  woman,  yet  he  has 
a  dim  consciousness  that  everything  that  redounds 
to  his  comfort,  and  that  he  calls  his  own,  is  the  re- 
sult of  this  toil,  and  that  it  is  in  the  power  of  his 
mother  or  his  wife,  even  though  he  looks  on  her  as 
his  serf,  to  deprive  him  of  all  that  makes  his  life 
agreeable. 


230  THE  COSSACKS 

Moreover,  the  constant  hard  field  labour,  and  the 
duties  intrusted  to  them,  give  a  peculiarly  inde- 
pendent, masculine  character  to  the  "grehen'* 
women,  and  have  served  to  develop  in  them,  to  a 
remarkable  degree,  physical  powers,  healthy  minds, 
decision  and  stability  of  character.  The  women  are 
for  the  most  part  stronger  and  more  intelligent, 
better  developed  and  handsomer,  than  the  men.  The 
beauty  of  the  women  among  the  "Grebensky"  (or 
Terek)  Cossacks  is  due  to  the  striking  union  in 
them  of  the  purest  type  of  the  Tcherkess  with  the 
full  and  powerful  build  of  the  northern  woman. 
Their  usual  di'ess  is  Tcherkess :  the  Tartar  shirt,  the 
heslimet,  or  under-tunic,  and  the  foot-gear  called 
chuvyahi;  but  they  wear  the  kerchiefs  in  the  Rus- 
sian way.  The  wearing  of  clean,  rich  and  elegant 
attire,  and  the  decoration  of  their  cottages,  belong 
to  the  inseparable  conditions  of  their  existence." 


While  the  monotonous  garrison  routine  of  the 
stanitzi  of  the  Terek  still  offers  the  occasional  con- 
genial adventure  of  a  foray  against  their  wild 
mountaineer  neighbours,  the  Astrakhan  Cossacks 
who  have  their  headquarters  in  the  picturesque,  but 
unhealthy  metropolis  of  the  lower  Volga,  are  prin- 
cipally engaged  in  the  lucrative  but  unwarlike  trade 
of  fishing.  The  Astrakhan  Cossacks  form  a  fast 
disappearing  branch  of  the  Cossack  race.  Origi- 
nally an  offshoot  of  the  Donskoi  they  are  now 
slowly  being  absorbed  by  the  neighbouring  non- 
Cossack  population. 

The  whole  northern  end  of  the  shallow  sandy- 


THE    FRONTIERS    OF    EUROPE  231 

bottomed  Caspian  is  a  vast  natural  fish-pond.  In 
spite  of  a  yearly  catch  of  countless  sturgeon,  her- 
ring, beluga,  soudak  and  other  varieties  of  fish, 
many  of  them  wholly  unknown  outside  the  waters 
of  this  finny  paradise,  the  supply  seems  inex- 
haustible. 

From  the  Volga  fisheries  (and  those  of  the  Ural) 
is  obtained  the  world's  principal  supply  of  the  fa- 
mous Russian  delicacy  —  caviar ;  unknown,  how- 
ever, under  that  name,  and  always  locally  called 
ikra.  As  the  Cossack  communities  of  the  Volga 
and  Ural  have  preserved  to  a  great  extent  ancient 
exclusive  rights  to  the  river  fisheries,  they  are  by 
far  the  richest  of  the  Cossack  armies.  These  fish- 
eries, which  have  existed  for  centuries,  are  now  ex- 
ploited by  the  most  scientific  methods.  The  never- 
failing  demand  for  caviar,  of  both  the  coarse  and 
finer  qualities,  always  far  exceeds  the  supply.  In 
Russia  as  well  as  in  Europe,  it  is  a  highly  expensive 
delicacy.  In  the  early  days  of  these  colonies,  salted 
caviar,  packed  in  little  wooden  kegs,  formed  the 
most  acceptable  tribute  which  could  be  offered  to 
the  Russian  court,  and  this  delectable  product  pur- 
chased indemnity  for  many  a  Cossack  misdeed.  On 
account  of  its  portable  nature  the  price  of  caviar  is 
almost  as  high  in  the  restaurants  of  Astrakhan  as 
in  the  great  restaurants  of  Europe.  A  true  gou?'- 
met  will,  however,  be  rewarded  threefold  should  he 
make  the  pious  pilgrimage  to  Astrakhan  for  the 
purpose  of  tasting  the  silver-grey,  nearly  unsalted 


232  THE  COSSACKS 

ikraj  only  to  be  obtained  at  its  best  near  the  place 
of  origin. 

Just  across  the  administrative  boundaries  of 
European  Russia  lies  the  little  Cossack  capital  of 
Uralsk,  still  in  many  ways  the  most  characteristic 
of  the  Cossack  communities.  The  adventurous  his- 
tory of  this  frontier  stronghold  is  especially  associ- 
ated with  the  name  of  Pougatchev  and  the  great 
Cossack  revolt  of  the  reign  of  Catherine  II.  Fol- 
lowing the  defeat  of  the  armies  of  the  "False  Peter 
III,"  only  accomplished  after  a  long  and  bitter 
struggle,  the  ancient  name  of  Jaik,  which  had  for- 
merly distinguished  both  the  Cossacks  and  their 
country,  was  changed  to  its  present  name  of 
Uralsk.* 

On  accoimt  of  their  isolation  from  their  neigh- 
bours, the  Uralski  Kasaki  have  preserved  many  of 
the  manners  and  customs  of  the  ancient  Cossacks, 
long  since  abandoned  by  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don. 
In  these  rarely  visited  districts  the  ancient  system 
of  Cossack  land  tenure  and  communal  existence 
are  still  maintained  in  all  their  purity.  ( See  Ap- 
pendix.) 

The  Cossacks  of  the  Uralsk  deserve,  perhaps 
more  than  any  other  branch  of  their  race,  to  be 
called  the  true  survivors  of  the  old  "Free  People.'* 

*  Since  the  author's  visit  to  Uralsk,  in  1916,  the  old 
name  of  Jaik  has  been  restored  by  a  vote  of  the  Cossack 
community. 


THE   FRONTIERS    OF   EUROPE  233 

For  more  than  three  hundred  years  they  have 
figured  in  Russian  history.  To  the  remnants  of 
ancient  tribes,  perhaps  of  Scythian  origin,  fugitive 
Russian  peasants  and  other  foreigners  joined  them- 
selves to  form  the  earliest  community  inhabiting 
the  shores  of  the  Jaik.  Among  these  first  settlers 
were  many  religious  refugees,  a  majority  of  them 
belonging  to  the  strange  Russian  sect  known  as 
Raskolniki  or  "Old  Believers."  These  Russian 
sectarians,  rather  than  obey  the  reforming  edicts  of 
the  Tsars  who  desired  to  modernize  the  ritual  of 
the  ancient  faith,  fled  to  the  deserts  to  worship  God 
after  the  primitive  fasliion  of  their  fathers.  A  cen- 
sus made  during  the  reign  of  Peter  the  Great 
(1723)  shows  that  the  colony  included  the  members 
of  several  sects  of  dissenters,  many  of  whom  held  to 
creeds  stranger  than  those  of  the  Raskolniki.  Along 
the  shores  of  the  Jaik  all  who  were  persecuted  and 
oppressed,  whether  Poles,  Hungarians  or  Cossacks 
of  the  Don,  could  live  their  lives  as  they  pleased. 

It  was  not  until  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
that  the  Russian  Government  sought  to  exercise 
any  control  other  than  a  nominal  supervision  over 
these  liberty-loving  citizens.  It  is  to  be  feared, 
however,  that  the  Cossack  Puritans  of  Uralsk  had 
their  own  strange  ideas  of  the  ethics  of  freedom: 
for,  as  one  of  their  rollicking  songs  expresses  it, 

"Formerly  we  Cossack  fellows 
Sailed  at  home  upon  the  sea; 
Our  long  boats  upon  the  waters 
Took  a  toll  from  Khiv  and  Persia."* 
*  See   an   article   by   N.   Borodin.     Popular    Science 
Monthly. 


234  THE  COSSACKS 

As  long  as  these  austere  brigands  confined  their 
attention  to  the  subjects  of  the  Shah  and  the  Khan 
of  Khiva  the  Russian  Government  interfered  but 
little  with  their  affairs.  It  was  only  when,  at  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Russian  trade  upon 
the  Caspian  began  to  be  an  important  factor  that 
the  business  of  piracy  fell  upon  evil  days.  However, 
the  great  extension  which  contact  with  Russian 
merchants  gave  to  the  fishing  industry  more  than 
made  up  for  the  toll  which  the  Cossacks  formerly 
levied  on  the  trade  passing  near  their  shores. 

An  interesting  historical  note,  concerning  these 
"fishing"  Cossacks,  may  be  found  in  Hak- 
luyt's  "Voyages."  In  this  account  we  are  told 
that  in  1673,  Master  Geoffrey  Ducket,  returning 
from  his  fifth  voyage  for  the  Muscovy  Company, 
ran  afoul  of  these  pirates,  when,  "by  reason  of  the 
variety  of  the  winds  and  dangerous  flats  of  the 
Caspian  Sea"  he  was  riding  at  anchor  near  their 
shores.  He  tells  that  "certain  Rus  Cossacks,  which 
are  outlaws  or  banished  men  .  .  .  came  to  us  with 
divers  boats  under  cover  of  friendship  and  entered 
our  ship."  The  suspicious  conduct  of  these  visi- 
tors, however,  soon  undeceived  the  wise  British 
merchants  with  respect  to  their  intentions  and  they 
thereupon  took  their  hatchets  and  "skowred  the 
hatches." 

For  many  years  the  Uralski  Cossacks  have  lived 
as  orderly  and  peaceable  an  existence  as  frontier 
conditions  permit.    They  were  among  the  first  to 


THE    FRONTIERS    OF    EUROPE  235 

declare  their  allegiance  to  the  constitutional  gov- 
ernment after  the  overthi-ow  of  Tsarism  in  1917, 
and  have  since  resisted  the  tyranny  exercised  from 
Moscow  and  Petrograd  by  "King  Stork"  Lenin, 
with  the  same  courage  and  determination  which 
they  opposed  to  the  officials  of  "King  Log" 
Nicholas.  The  leaders  of  the  Soviet  movement  — 
realizing  the  necessity  of  winning  the  Cossack  ele- 
ment to  their  doctrines  —  have  tried  every  method 
learned  from  their  German  teachers,  from  ter- 
rorism to  propaganda,  to  enlist  the  sympathies  of 
the  sturdy  Uralski.  But  the  excesses  of  the  pande- 
moniac  government  at  Petrograd  have  so  disgusted 
the  Cossacks  that  the  adherents  of  the  Bolsheviki 
were  none  too  gently  thrown  out  of  their  settle- 
ments, early  in  the  struggle  between  order  and 
anarchy.* 

^F  ^F  ^F  ^F  ^^  ^^  ^'  ^t 

Some  210  miles  northwest  of  Uralsk  lies  the  Cos- 
sack capital  of  Orenburg,  a  frontier  post  which  has 
played  a  famous  part  in  the  stirring  annals  of  Rus- 
sia's conquest  of  the  khanates  of  Central  Asia. 
Several  times  the  entire  city  has  been  transferred  to 
another  site,  but  always  nearer  to  the  goal  of  Rus- 

*  According  to  a  dispatch  to  the  New  York  Evening 
Post  of  May  26,  1919,  the  advance  of  a  relieving  force 
of  General  Kolchak's  Siberian  troops  found  the  garrison 
of  Uralsk  maintaining  the  gallant  resistance  to  the  "Red 
Army"  which  they  have  carried  on  since  the  beginning  of 
the  war. 


236  THE  COSSACKS 

sia's  ambition  —  the  rich  oases  of  Khiva,  Merv,  Bo- 
khara, and  Samarkand,  the  centre  of  Mussuhnan 
culture  and  power  in  the  days  of  the  World  Empire 
of  Tamerlane. 

Between  Orenburg  and  Tashkent  a  commercially 
strategic  line  of  railway,  which  may  be  said  to  rank 
but  second  in  importance  to  the  Trans-Siberian, 
now  unites  European  Russia  with  these  prosperous 
Asiatic  markets.  The  wonderful  fruits  grown  in 
the  orchards  of  Samarkand  and  Bokhara  were  be- 
fore the  present  disturbances  transported  via  Oren- 
burg in  long  trains  of  refrigerating  cars  and 
distributed  all  over  the  Moscow  area.  On  the  far 
Chinese  frontier  a  great  cotton-raising  district  had 
also  sprung  into  existence  during  the  last  two 
decades  of  imperial  government,  when  the  abroga- 
tion of  the  Russo-American  commercial  treaty 
caused  the  government  to  aim  at  becoming  economi- 
cally independent  in  this  respect. 

The  present  city  of  Orenburg,  standing  on  a  high 
bluff,  overlooking  a  boundless  sweep  of  Tartar 
steppes,  is  fast  losing  its  Cossack  character  through 
the  influx  of  an  alien  commercial  population. 

In  the  neat  public  gardens  of  Orenburg,  where 
before  the  advent  of  the  Bolsheviki  a  Cossack  band 
discoursed  almost  nightly  to  the  promenaders,  the 
population  of  Orenburg  could  be  studied  in  all  the 
strange  variety  of  its  racial  elements.  Apparently 
on  the  best  of  terms,  the  Russianized  Tartar  inhabi- 
tants and  the  mihtary  and  civil  officials  of  the  gov- 


THE   FRONTIERS    OF   EUROPE  237 

ernment  here  met  on  common  ground.  Hither 
came  the  comely  Tartar  maiden  (who  of  her 
national  costume  only  retained  the  not  unbecoming 
Tartar  headdress)  to  flirt  discreetly  with  the  stu- 
dents of  the  Cossack  military  school.  On  the 
benches  sat  Sart  and  Tartar  merchants  talking  over 
the  day's  business  with  Russian  or  Armenian  shop- 
keepers. 

Ranking  after  the  territory  of  the  Don  and 
Uralsk  Cossacks  in  extent,  the  land  of  the  Oren- 
burg Cossacks,  stretching  in  a  long  narrow  band 
along  the  course  of  the  upper  Uralsk  River,  is  far 
more  Cossack  in  character  than  the  capital  city.  Yet 
under  the  colonial  policy  of  the  old  imperial  gov- 
ernment, the  fertile  land  was  becoming  filled  with 
new-comers  of  the  non-Cossack  class  —  moujik 
colonists  from  the  overcrowded  villages  of  the 
north,  besides  Tartar  peasants  from  the  south. 
Even  the  half -nomad  tribesmen,  Kirghiz  and  Kal- 
moucks,  who  have  wandered  over  these  plains  since 
the  days  of  the  Golden  Horde,  are  now  beginning 
to  settle  in  village  communities.  Often  these  little 
agglomerations  are  composed  partly  of  mud  huts 
or  hovels,  partly  of  the  old  felt  tents  of  the  more 
conservative  tribesmen. 

Everywhere  the  virgin  soil  is  capable,  even  under 
the  most  primitive  agricultural  conditions,  of  phe- 
nomenal returns  for  labour  expended  upon  it.  The 
statistics  of  Orenburg  show  that  the  population  of 
this  province  and  its  dependencies  were,  before  the 


238  THE  COSSACKS 

war,  among  the  most  rapidly  gi'owing  communities 
of  Russia. 

The  Russian  has  always  been  successful  as  an 
Asiatic  colonist  —  for  reasons  worthy  of  considera- 
tion by  our  new  "mandatory"  powers.  In  this 
"melting-pot"  one  may  study  the  process,  so  much 
freer  of  "race-pride"  than  the  Anglo-Saxon 
methods  of  colonization,  which  enabled  the  Tsarist 
government  to  fling  wide  the  frontiers  of  their  Em- 
pire during  the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

In  this  task  of  Europeanization  the  Cossack  has 
played  an  important  role.  Fitted  by  his  origin  and 
history  to  be  an  intermediary  between  East  and 
West,  he  is  happily  endowed  with  sympathy  and 
understanding  for  two  often  irreconcilable  view- 
points. Above  all,  he  has  none  of  the  fine  contempt 
for  the  "yellow  races"  wliich  *  besets  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  not  to  mention  the  now  happily  disarmed 
apostles  of  Kultur.  Aside  from  the  pathetic  and 
ridiculous  attempts  of  the  Bolsheviki  to  introduce 
their  stereotyped  Marxian  kultur  into  the  world- 
old  Cosmos  of  Asia  —  Russia  has  played  a  note- 
worthy role  in  her  Asiatic  dominions.  While  show- 
ing powers  of  as.  imilation,  only  to  be  explained  by 
Russian  racial  history,  the  rule  of  Tsarism  was 
generally  less  resented  among  her  subject  nations 
than  England's  milder  sway  in  India.  Autocracy 
and  its  methods  came  from  Asia  and  is  in  no  sense 
generally  disliked  by  the  vast  majority  of  Asiatics 
to-day. 


THE   FRONTIERS   OF   EUROPE  239 

In  its  future  dealings  with  these  subject  people 
of  the  old  empire  a  liberalized  Russia  will  find  a 
difficult  problem,  yet  to  aid  her  in  this  task  she  will 
have  the  organized  experience  of  her  Cossack  fron- 
tiersmen. No  one  who  has  had  first-hand  knowl- 
edge of  these  borderlands  can  believe  for  a  moment 
that  the  Cossack's  mission  will  end  until  the  vast 
plains  of  Central  Asia  have  advanced  much  farther 
than  they  have  to-day  along  the  paths  of  Europe's 
compelling  —  if  not  so  immeasurably  superior  — 
civilization. 

THE  END 


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